Mid-Q3 in benefits land means one thing. Your renewal is coming.
If you've been running your plans well all year, you're not sweating it. You know how your plans are performing. Your broker has been sending you loss ratio updates and flagging big claims as they come in. You sat down together back in Q1, mapped out the timeline, and talked about where you want to be in 2026.
If you just read that and thought, "wait, we were supposed to do what in Q1?" Two things:
We should talk.
It's time to take a hard look at your broker.
I love brokers. Truly.
I worked on the broker side for years. Some of my most trusted people in this industry are brokers. I wouldn't be where I am without them.
Which is exactly why I'm the worst client. I've sat in that seat. I know what's reasonable to ask for, what your broker should be owning, and what's on you.
What a good broker does before the renewal packet lands
Quarterly plan check-ins. Loss ratio, large claims, utilization trends. Not once a year. Every quarter.
Renewal strategy that starts in Q1. Plan design, vendor negotiations, what you're trying to accomplish next year.
Real benchmarking. How your costs and plan design stack up against employers like you.
Carrier and vendor wrangling. They're your advocate when service slips, and they run implementations so you don't have to.
Compliance heads-ups. New rules and deadlines show up in your inbox before they become your problem.
Open enrollment help. Employee materials, FAQs, and talking points for your managers.
The bottom line
Renewal season doesn't have to be a fire drill. If most of that list isn't happening well before Q4, the problem probably isn't the renewal. It's the relationship.
