Health Compass Consulting

My latest in BenefitsPRO magazine.

I’m not saying government intervention and corporatism is the reason Vermont has the highest health insurance rates, but I’m not saying it’s not.

Violence is not the answer.

City of Orlando agreed to pay Assured Partners $800,000 in economic incentives to move their HQ to downtown Orlando, and now Assured will be wrapped into Gallagher. This is terrible for employers. One reason M&A is rampant in the insurance brokerage space is that bonuses paid by health insurers are based on the volume of their book of business. If you use a benefits firm to help you maximize the return on your benefits investment, you need to understand that carrier bonuses undermine the brokerage industry's ability to give clients objective advice about how to maximize value and fulfill fiduciary responsibilities. It's akin to working with a CPA who gets paid by the IRS behind your back...totally insane. This is why people like Marc Cuban, myself, and others recommend taking benefits in-house or using fee-based benefits firms (these are firms that don't accept compensation in any form from health insurers for their clients that have 50+ employees). With health insurance prices rising at record rates in 2025 and fiduciary standards being applied (finally), now is the time to re-evaluate your relationship with your benefits firm.

In Central Florida, healthcare prices vary by over 1,100% (RAND) That’s an opportunity.

Health insurance is less than 100 years old. In 1929, the Baylor University Hospital established an agreement with the Dallas Teachers' Union, allowing teachers to pre-pay 50 cents a month in exchange for free admission and services at Baylor Hospital. By 1934, the non-profit plan became known as "Blue Cross." With support from foundations, loans, and contributions from other hospitals, 14 additional Blue Cross plans were launched across 11 states within just one year. PS: this is an excerpt from my forthcoming book "Unbiased Advice: How U.S. Companies Can Save $300 Billion A Year On Healthcare." Message me if you'd like a free advance copy.

"If every employer followed Harris Rosen's example of transforming healthcare waste into community investment, it would generate a $500 billion annual economic stimulus for working families." - Dave Chase Many employers can follow Rosen's lead --- but only if they know how.

"Don't buy that" This is the advice we often give to clients who are being pitched the latest shiny healthcare object. Our job is to help employers maximize the return on their benefits investment. This requires staying focused on the things that will actually move the needle for an organization and not getting distracted by the endless parade of point solutions. And since we don't get paid to sell products, we are free to give them unbiased advice about what to purchase --- and what to avoid.

If healthcare prices weren’t problem for employers, I wouldn’t have started one of the first fee-based benefits firms in 2018. But they are… How could this be? Don’t employers work with benefits brokers to help them control costs maximize the return on their benefits investments? Yes, but in the 50+ market, benefits brokers make more money when costs go up — not down — and therefore, they aren’t that motivated to control your costs. As a result, healthcare has been on of the fastest growing financial risks on P&L statements for years, and healthcare is now a top 3 expense for most companies. As an antidote to this failed system, a small army of fee-based firms have appeared in the market. Yes, this is similar to what happened in the 401k industry 20 years ago when fiduciary standards started being applied. Instead getting paid commissions and bonuses from vendors, fee-based firms strip this compensation out of products and replace it with their transparent fee. This change may seem trivial, but in reality, it completely changes the dynamic between parties because now the firm works for the employer — not the insurance companies. As a result, employers get unbiased advice that helps them get the most value for their money and fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities. And here’s the kicker… In many cases, it doesn’t even cost anything to replace your broker with a fee based benefits firm. And employers who make this change often save $1,000 to $3,000 per employee per year (in profit) and enjoy better benefits.

Not accepting compensation from vendors is the key to providing unbiased recommendations to clients on how to maximize the return on their benefits investments and helping fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities. This is one reason our average client saves $1,856 per employee per year with better benefits.