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.

What Is a Level-Funded Health Plan? A Guide for Oklahoma Small Businesses

Charlie Hopgood
Jul 2
2 min read

If you've been shopping for group health insurance and feel like fully insured plans keep getting more expensive every year, you're not imagining it. Premium renewals of 10–20% are common — even when your employees barely used their benefits.

There's an alternative worth knowing about: level-funded health plans.

The Problem With Traditional (Fully Insured) Plans

With a standard group health plan, you pay a fixed monthly premium to a carrier. The carrier takes on all the risk. If your employees are healthy and don't use much coverage, the carrier keeps the profit. If they use a lot, the carrier covers it.

This sounds simple, but the downside is that you have no visibility into your claims and no way to benefit from a healthy workforce. The carrier prices in a risk margin, and you pay it regardless.

How Level-Funded Plans Work

A level-funded plan is a form of self-funding with built-in cost controls. Here's how it works:

You pay a fixed monthly amount — your "level" payment — which covers expected claims, an administrative fee, and stop-loss insurance.
Claims are paid from your account as employees use benefits.
Stop-loss insurance protects you if any one employee has catastrophically high claims (typically capped at $20,000–$40,000 per person).
At the end of the year, if claims are lower than expected, you get money back — the claims surplus is refunded to you.

The key difference from traditional insurance: your money, your data, your upside.

Who Level-Funded Plans Work Best For

Level-funded plans are not for every group, but they're a strong fit if:

You have 10 or more employees
Your workforce is relatively young or healthy
You've had low claims history in recent years
You're tired of large renewal increases with no explanation

Groups with chronic conditions or high utilization may not qualify or may not save money. Your broker can run the numbers to see if it pencils out.

Potential Savings

Groups that are a good fit for level-funded plans can often save 10–20% compared to fully insured rates, sometimes more. The savings come from:

Eliminating the carrier's built-in risk margin
Returning unused claims dollars at year-end
Greater transparency into what's actually driving costs

What to Watch Out For

Level-funded plans do carry more complexity than traditional plans:

Claims exposure — you're on the hook up to the stop-loss threshold
Year-to-year variability — a bad claims year can reduce or eliminate savings
Employee health data — you'll see aggregate claims reports, which some employers find uncomfortable

A good broker helps you evaluate the tradeoffs and pick the right stop-loss threshold so you're protected.

Ask Us About Level-Funded Options

At Service 1st Benefits, we work with multiple level-funded carriers and can quickly tell you whether your group is a good candidate. If it makes sense, we'll show you a side-by-side comparison with your current plan.

Curious if you qualify? Request a free analysis →