The State of Benefits Satisfaction
Survey results from employee benefits brokers and employers on healthcare costs, commissions, carrier satisfaction, and more.
The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers partnered with McKinsey & Company to conduct a survey involving 128 employee benefits brokers, with roles including producer, practice leader, and account manager.
Survey respondents represented employers in a wide swath of industries and organization sizes. Topics included carrier satisfaction, healthcare cost containment concerns and solutions, broker pricing and commissions, regulatory and compliance issues, and future priorities.
Simultaneously, McKinsey conducted its own 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey of roughly 1,900 employers to understand the key forces shaping employer healthcare decisions.
Key Findings
- Brokers believe their clients are satisfied with their carriers. More than half report that their clients switch medical, voluntary, and/or ancillary carriers every three to five years, with more than one-quarter saying clients switch every five to 10 years or rarely/never.
- Employers seem to echo that time frame, with 27% anticipating a carrier switch in three to four years and roughly one-third anticipating a carrier switch in four years or longer or not at all.
- Healthcare costs are the top reason employers and brokers consider switching carriers. Brokers are focused on cost containment as a priority.
- Brokers are implementing a wide breadth of cost containment levers, with more than 40% saying that half of their clients use a cost containment solution. However, no lever is being used by more than 10% of brokers, indicating there is not yet a consensus within the brokerage community on the most effective approach to contain costs.
- A majority of brokers report over the past five years benefit pricing premiums have increased, with medical premiums rising the most (43% reported an increase in premium pricing of more than 10%). This has not resulted in a direct increase in broker commissions, which have remained stable.
- Employers similarly report a steady increase in healthcare costs, with more than half expecting increases to continue next year. At the same time, nearly half report either no change or a decrease in their expected benefits budget for 2026.
- Employers are increasingly reporting switching to self-funding health plan options, with 60% noting they definitely/probably will switch. Employers are also willing to switch brokers and cite access to a broader range of solutions and lack of proactive help with managing costs as two of the top three reasons for switching.
