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BenefitFlow’s premium and commission numbers come from what employers file on Form 5500. Usually the filing shows exactly what was paid for each benefit. Two things make that harder:
  • Several benefits bundled on one contract. The filing shows one combined premium, not the split.
  • A self-funded employer with no medical policy. There’s nothing filed for medical. No premium, no commission.
When that happens, BenefitFlow estimates the missing number instead of leaving it blank, and always marks it as an estimate.

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Benefits bundled on one contract

Sometimes multiple benefits are bundled into a single policy, making it unclear what commissions or premiums are attributable to each specific benefit. For example, a contract might bundle life insurance, long-term disability, and temporary disability under one reported premium, without showing how much of that premium went to each benefit. To estimate the split, we look at employers who file those same benefits as separate policies. Their filings show the actual split, which we apply to the bundled contract.

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Self-funded medical

A self-funded employer pays medical claims out of pocket instead of buying a policy, so there’s no medical premium or commission to file. About seven in ten have no medical figure on file at all. Because medical’s usually the biggest line in a benefits program, the employer’s spend and the broker’s commission both look much smaller than they really are. To fill that gap, we look at what similar fully insured employers pay per person per month on medical, and what their brokers earn, then apply that rate to the people covered by the plan over a year.

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FAQs

No. On a bundled contract the pieces add up to the filed total. We’re just showing the breakdown. For self-funded medical there’s nothing filed to change; the estimate sits next to whatever was reported.
Usually there isn’t enough filed data. Either too few separate filings exist to measure a reliable split, or the employer’s below the Form 5500 filing threshold with no Schedule A at all.
No. Search and filters only look at what was actually filed, so an estimate alone can’t be why an employer shows up in a search.

Data Glossary

What every field on an employer or broker profile means

Form 5500 Overview

What the filing includes, and what BenefitFlow adds

What is the Primary Broker?

How reported commissions decide the lead broker relationship

Filtering Guide

Which fields you can search and filter on
Last modified on September 2, 2026