Bennie Insurance, LLC Brokerage and Technology Consulting Services

Date of last update: October 19, 2021

The services detailed below will be performed by Bennie, Bennie Insurance, LLC, Bennie Insurance Services (CA), Bennie Insurance Agency LLC (NY), or an affiliate of Bennie appropriately licensed as an insurance producer, broker or agent in the corresponding states for any insurance policy or policies for which Customer has awarded Bennie or one of its affiliates with Broker of Record (“BOR”) designation.

A. Benefit Placement, Renewal, and Ongoing Evaluation

1. Assist in the review and renewal of carriers and administrators, plans and plan designs, insurance premiums, program communications and quality of current employee health and welfare insurance policies for which Customer has awarded BOR.
2. Act in best interest of Customer in all negotiations with benefit providers.
3. Where possible, provide estimates of anticipated renewal rates to enable proactive management of the benefits program.
4. Conduct market analysis using a combination of existing research and ad-hoc research for the purpose of making recommendations on benefit vendor selection and services provided.
5. Upon request, provide benchmark analysis of health and welfare plan offerings and costs to determine competitiveness of Customer benefit plans.
6. Assist in the review and development of employee health and well-being programs, as needed.
7. Provide communication materials regarding the health benefit plans and support for the annual open enrollment period, new benefit offerings and/or changes to the existing health benefit plan offerings.
8. Provide support for annual open enrollment meeting, if requested.
9. Depending on Customer market, Bennie may partner with one of several external general agencies for assistance in obtaining proposals and placing coverage.

B. Analysis and Reporting

1. Where possible and dependent on data available from benefit carriers and administrators, provide Customer with review of employee utilization patterns, experience trends, and plan-specific data for the purpose of guiding benefit plan strategy.
2. Provide Customer with financial modeling and experience reporting as needed, where available.
3. Provide Customer with summary of all vendor proposals obtained on Customer’s behalf, detailing proposal differences, assumptions, and cost calculations.

C. Customer Advocacy & Plan Administration

1. Manage the ongoing administration of Customer’s employee health and welfare plans.
2. Act as advocate between Customer and health and welfare plan providers and represent Customer’s best interest in any conversations with health and welfare plan providers.
3. Provide timely customer service and assistance to Customer with ongoing service involving but not limited to interpretation of contract language, correction of provider billing issues, resolution of claims issues, and other general troubleshooting and problem resolution relating to benefit program operations.
4. Attend meetings with Customer as requested.
5. Facilitate meetings between Customer and benefits carrier or administrator representatives as requested.
6. Recommend and help develop enhancements and improvements for employee communications regarding the health benefit plans.
7. Recommend particular broker-sponsored seminars, benefit events and educational forums and roundtables, as available.

D. Compliance

1. Evaluate Customer benefit programs on ongoing basis to assist with compliance with state and federal laws, rules and regulations, including ERISA, HIPAA, and PPACA.
2. Provide information about applicable new or proposed laws, new rules and regulations, regulatory updates, and/or changes to best practices for the effective administration of health plans.
3. Assist with preparation of Form 5500s if applicable, including compilation of required schedules from insurance carriers and delivery of a signature-ready draft filing.
4. Provide education supporting Customer compliance with mandated reporting and posting/notice requirements for health and welfare plans.

E. Benefits Technology Services

1. Evaluate Customer’s benefit carriers, administrators, and plans in the context of its HR, benefits administration, and payroll technology to identify and recommend opportunities to improve efficiency in administration.
2. Assist with benefits technology implementation as needed, including configuration, testing, and QA of benefits once per year accompanying Open Enrollment & benefits renewal.
3. Partner with benefits administration firm to set up eligibility and enrollment connections, whether EDI-based, API-based, or other, on the construction of integrations for all carriers who will accept an integration, which can be dependent on but not limited to Customer’s size, Customer’s geography, and specific platform or platforms used by the chosen carrier. Note: Benefits placement and renewal consulting as described in Section A above will attempt to account for carrier technological capabilities when presenting recommendations; however, integration is not guaranteed.
4. Provide annual market update on the benefits technology landscape to accompany benefits planning and renewal strategy.

F. Benefits Enrollment Services

1. As part of standard services, Bennie will assist Customer with identification of an external benefits administration system or systems that most closely aligns with Customer’s system, organizational, and benefit program goals. Customer agrees to use its chosen benefits administration system for submission of all benefit plan transactions, such as enrollment of new hires, life event changes, and termination of active employees.

2. Once Customer’s external benefits administration system is implemented and fully-operational, Bennie will also assist Customer with enrollment management services for its active employees to ensure that new hires, life event changes, and active employee terminations are communicated accurately and timely to the vendor, carrier, or administrator, provided that Bennie has full access to the Customer’s benefits administration system and all employee enrollment data is accessible to Bennie via user interface or report. Bennie may also partner with one of several external general agencies for assistance in fulfilling enrollment management services.

3. Bennie enrollment management services include the following:

   1. Configuration of external benefit administration system’s plans to facilitate enrollment according to the plan’s eligibility guidelines and according to the vendor, carrier, or administrator’s rules
   2. Project management of initiatives between the external benefits administration system and vendors, carriers, and administrators to build Electronic Data Interface (EDI) or Application Programming Interface (API) connections, if available, that automate enrollment transmission after enrollment
   3. Partnership with external benefit administration systems to accurately configure the system’s form-builder functionality, if available, and ensure completed forms are sent to the correct vendor, carrier, or administrator
   4. Data entry of enrollment information into vendor, carrier, or administrator’s web portal, provided that 1) Bennie is granted access to that portal and has permissions to update data with the vendor, carrier, or administrator, and 2) the employee’s enrollment record has already been updated on the benefits administration system
   5. Delivery to carriers of completed enrollment forms sent by Customer to Bennie via secure email

4. Customer retains ongoing responsibility for the following:

   1. Timely and accurate payment of any premium and/or fees to benefit vendors, carriers, and administrators
   2. Monthly review of vendor, carrier, or administrator invoices for accuracy
   3. Immediate notification to Bennie if any discrepancies are identified