How does Service 1st Benefits support my business during open enrollment?

We personally manage the entire open enrollment process — from educating employees to handling enrollment forms and answering plan questions. Our goal is to make open enrollment smooth and stress-free for everyone.

Can employees contact you directly for help?

Yes. Employees can reach out to us anytime for questions about claims, coverage, ID cards, or plan details. We act as your team’s benefits partner, not just your broker.

What size businesses do you work with?

We specialize in serving small and medium-sized businesses, typically ranging from 1–200 employees. If you’re growing or planning to expand, we help scale your benefits as your team grows.

Do you handle communication with insurance carriers for us?

Absolutely. We take care of claims issues, employee changes, renewals, and any carrier communication so you don’t have to spend hours on hold.

Do you offer voluntary or supplemental benefits?

Yes. We can provide optional add-ons like disability, accident, or critical illness insurance to enhance your benefits package at little or no cost to the employer.

What types of group benefits do you offer?

We provide comprehensive group health, dental, vision, and life insurance options for small and medium-sized businesses. We help you compare plans, handle enrollment, and manage carrier communication.

What information do you need to provide a quote?

We typically need: Number of employees Basic employee census (age, gender, ZIP code) Current plan (if applicable) Desired benefits or coverage goals We keep the process as simple as possible.

Do you charge fees for your services?

No. Our services — including plan comparison, open enrollment, and year-round support — are provided at no additional cost to your business.

Level-Funded Health Plans for Oklahoma Small Businesses: Is It Right for You?

Charlie Hopgood

Jul 14

2 min read

Level-funded plans keep coming up in renewal conversations with Oklahoma small employers, usually after someone hears it could lower costs. Here's what it actually is, and who it genuinely fits.

What "Level-Funded" Actually Means

A level-funded plan is a hybrid between fully-insured and self-funded coverage. You pay a fixed monthly amount — like a traditional premium — but that amount is split into three buckets: claims funding, administrative fees, and stop-loss insurance (protection against catastrophic claims). At year-end, if claims came in under projections, you can get money back. If claims ran high, stop-loss coverage protects you from the overage.

Why Small Employers Are Looking at It

Fully-insured premiums are priced on a large risk pool, meaning a healthy small group still pays rates shaped by less healthy groups in the same pool. Level-funding prices closer to your group's actual risk. For a younger, healthier workforce, that can mean real savings — plus visibility into your own claims data, which fully-insured plans typically don't provide.

Who It's Actually a Fit For

Level-funding tends to make sense for:

Groups of roughly 10-100 employees with a relatively healthy, stable workforce
Employers who want claims transparency instead of a black-box premium
Businesses with the cash flow stability to handle a plan where costs can vary month to month before settling at year-end

Who Should Be Cautious

Groups with a few high-cost chronic conditions already in the workforce — stop-loss premiums can offset any savings
Employers who need total budget predictability with zero year-end surprises
Very small groups (under 10-15 employees) where claims volatility is harder to smooth out

The Catch Most Vendors Don't Mention

Not all level-funded plans are structured the same. Stop-loss attachment points, what counts toward "aggregate" versus "specific" claims, and how surplus is returned all vary by carrier. Two level-funded quotes that look similar on the surface can have very different downside risk built in.

The Bottom Line

Level-funding isn't automatically cheaper — it's a different way of pricing risk that rewards a healthy group and needs real underwriting, not a guess, to know if it fits.

Start here: Before you consider level-funding, get two years of claims history reviewed by your broker. Without that, you're deciding blind.