Questions to ask your benefits broker at renewal

A checklist covering compensation, conflicts, service, market checks and what happens if you leave.

Your benefits broker is a trusted adviser, so it is reasonable to ask how they are paid and what you get for it. A good broker expects these questions. This guide gives a checklist, explains why each question matters and suggests how to record the answers. General information, not advice.

Before the meeting

1. Collect your last two years of renewal documents and invoices.
2. Pull your plan's Form 5500 and Schedules A (see how to find your plan's Form 5500). Note the commissions and fees each carrier reported.
3. Look up your broker here to see its listed filings and percentiles. Remember it only reflects insured contracts with at least two filings, and one firm may appear under several offices.
4. Tell the broker you will ask for answers in writing so they can prepare.

Compensation

• How are you and your firm paid on our account: commission, fee or both? Are there other payments from carriers, such as bonuses, overrides or contingent compensation?
• What did you receive last year in total and by carrier? Does that match what carriers reported on our Schedule A?
• If we move to a fee arrangement, will any commission be credited against it?
• Have you provided the written compensation disclosures that federal law requires for our plans (see ERISA section 408(b)(2) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021)?

Why ask: compensation can come from several places. Only part of it may be on Schedule A, which covers what insurers report paying on insured contracts. Fees you pay directly would not be there.

Conflicts and ownership

• Do you or an affiliate own part of a carrier, administrator or other vendor you recommend?
• Do you receive payments for placing our business with particular carriers or vendors?
• Who owns your firm, and has that changed recently?

Service

• Who will work on our account day to day, and what is their experience with employers our size and industry?
• What is included: enrollment support, employee communications, compliance advice, claims advocacy, benchmarking and renewal negotiation?
• How quickly do you respond to urgent claims or eligibility problems? Is there a service standard in writing?
• Can we speak with two current clients of similar size?

Renewal and the market

• How many carriers do you take our plan to at each renewal, and do you share the responses, including those you did not recommend?
• Which carriers are you unable or unwilling to place business with?
• How do you benchmark our plan costs and benefits against similar employers, and what data do you use?
• What alternatives to our current funding approach (fully insured, level-funded, self-funded) have you modeled, and what are the trade-offs?

Compliance and risk

• How do you help us meet filing, notice and non-discrimination obligations, and who is responsible if something is missed?
• Do you carry errors and omissions insurance, and can we see the certificate?
• Who prepares or reviews our Form 5500, and do you review the Schedules A against your own records?

Terms and exit

• What does the broker of record agreement say about notice, term and termination?
• If we leave, what will you hand over, and will you continue to receive commissions on contracts already in place?
• Is there a fee for transferring records to a new adviser?

What to watch for in answers

• Answers that talk only about the "free" nature of commissions without describing how much is paid.
• Reluctance to put compensation in writing.
• Large differences between what you are told and what Schedule A shows. There may be an explanation, such as different periods or contracts, but ask for it.
• Vague descriptions of what the fees cover.

Verify and record

Confirm that your broker and the individual agents are licensed with your state insurance department. Keep the written answers with your renewal file and compare them next year. To understand figures you find, read how to read Schedule A and how broker compensation works.

A simple scorecard

To keep the answers comparable, particularly if you speak with more than one broker, use the same short list each time and write one line per item:

1. Compensation: how paid, and the total last year (commission, fee, other).
2. Conflicts: ownership ties and incentive arrangements disclosed or not.
3. Service: named team, response standard, what is included.
4. Market work: number of carriers approached and how results are shared.
5. Exit terms: notice period, handover and continuing commissions.

Do not reduce the decision to a single number. A broker with lower pay but thinner service is not necessarily the better fit, and the reverse is also true. The scorecard is there to make sure you ask every firm the same things and notice gaps.

Sample email to send first

Short is better. For example: "Ahead of our renewal, please send in writing (1) every way you and your affiliates are paid on our account, with amounts for the last plan year, by carrier; (2) any ownership interest you have in carriers or vendors you recommend; (3) the list of carriers you will approach and when we will see their responses; (4) the terms for ending the broker of record agreement." A clear request makes it easy to see who answers fully and who deflects.

After the meeting

Compare the answers with the Schedules A you pulled. If a carrier reported payments the broker did not mention, ask about it by name and amount. If everything matches, note that too. At the next renewal repeat the same questions, so that changes in arrangement, ownership or service stand out. If you remain unsure, an independent benefits attorney or consultant can review the arrangement for a fee you agree in advance.

Updated 2026-10-02.

General information only, current as of the date above. The information on Benefits Broker Atlas is not a recommendation or a guarantee of anyone's work. A license record shows registration status on the date shown, not workmanship, insurance coverage at the time of your job, or suitability for your project. Confirm license, insurance and permits directly before you hire. Rules and programs change; check the official sources linked in this guide.