Reviewing health benefits before your renewal date

Why the review starts three months before renewal

A renewal quote often arrives close to the date, and a team that has already reviewed its plans can weigh it calmly. Starting three months ahead gives time to read the usage data and put the same questions to every supplier before any price is agreed.

Begin with a single list of every plan the firm holds, including the small ones bought locally, because those are the ones most often renewed by default.

For many firms the calendar year is the renewal year, so the work falls between October and December. A firm with people in several countries usually holds several renewal dates, and the review is the moment to bring them onto one calendar.

What medical costs are doing

Medical costs are rising faster than prices in general almost everywhere. One global survey projects a medical trend of 9.0% for 2027, which its authors describe as more than triple the rate of inflation [1].

A survey of 346 insurers in 82 countries projected an average rise of 10.3% for 2026 [2]. American employers expect a median rise of 9.2% in 2027, which they plan to bring down to 8% through changes in plan design [3].

A quote in line with these figures is normal, so the review is best spent on what your people receive for the money.

Read usage before you read price

The CIPD advises employers to monitor usage and satisfaction regularly, so that the benefits on offer keep meeting people’s needs [4]. Usage shows which parts of a plan carry the value and which are paid for and left alone.

Counselling and an employee assistance programme are the wellbeing benefits organisations offer most often, at 71% and 67% of respondents [4]. Ask each supplier how many people used the service, compare that with how many could have, and set both beside the cost. A plan that few people use may be the wrong plan, or one nobody has explained to them.

Absence is the other measure to watch. The CIPD reports an average of 9.4 days of absence per person a year, the highest it has recorded in more than 15 years [4].

A timetable for October to December

In October, ask every supplier for twelve months of anonymised usage, claims by category, complaints and satisfaction, and list every plan with the people it covers, its renewal date, its currency and its notice period.

November is for questions and quotes. Put the same questions to every supplier and compare the answers side by side, then agree with finance and leadership what the benefits should do in the coming year.

December is for decisions and notice. Give notice to any plan you are replacing on the date its contract requires, confirm who is covered from the first day, check that nobody in treatment loses care, and tell your people what changes and whom to call.

When a business takes out a new policy, the law asks it to make a fair presentation of the risk first, which means disclosing every material circumstance it knows or ought to know [5]. Leave time in October to gather that information.

What changes in UK payroll from April 2027

From April 2027, employer-provided medical benefits are among the first benefits that must be reported through payroll in real time, ahead of most other benefits a year later [6]. A renewal agreed this winter will run into that change.

Ask each supplier for a monthly value per person that payroll can use, and give your payroll team the renewal timetable early.

Questions to ask each supplier

Put the same questions to every supplier, in writing, so the answers can be read side by side.

• How many of our people used the plan in the last twelve months, and for what?
• What will the price be at renewal, and what drove the change?
• Which exclusions and limits apply, and have any changed since last year?
• Is care the same in every city where our people live and travel?
• Who arranges appointments, and how quickly is a person seen?
• What reporting will we receive, and how is individual data kept private?
• Can we see the satisfaction and complaints data for our own people?
• What notice does the contract require, and what happens to people in treatment if we leave?

How one membership replaces plans at renewal

The Wellness for teams is one membership for the whole firm, its leaders and their families, with inpatient, outpatient and dental care, diagnostics and health programmes in 13 cities. Outside the United States it takes the place of national plans at renewal, each on its own date, so nobody loses cover in between. In the United States it is the global layer above the medical plan.

One concierge arranges everything, and the company receives one invoice, renewed once a year, with anonymised reporting under a data processing agreement. Leaders can start in one morning and the firm within 10 days.