Cypress Benefit Solutions

Cypress Benefit Solutions Cypress Benefit Solutions is an independent Employee Benefits agency specializing in group insurance

Here is something worth knowing about how hospitals get paid under most employer health plans.The rate your insurance ca...
06/02/2026

Here is something worth knowing about how hospitals get paid under most employer health plans.

The rate your insurance carrier pays a hospital is negotiated privately between the two of them. You never see it. What you do know is that in many markets, hospital consolidation has given large health systems enormous leverage to push those negotiated rates well above what Medicare pays for the same services.

Reference-based pricing is an approach that changes that equation. Instead of paying whatever the carrier negotiated, the plan pays a defined multiple of Medicare rates as the benchmark. For many employers the result is savings of 15% to 40% on total claims costs compared to a traditional plan.

We just published the final post in our three-part series on alternative health plan funding strategies, covering what reference-based pricing is, how it works in practice, what the real challenges look like, and which employers tend to benefit most. If the series has sparked any questions about your own health plan, this is a great place to finish it.

Over the past several weeks we have covered two alternative approaches to the traditional fully insured group health plan: self-funding, where employers pay claims directly with stop-loss protection, and ICHRAs, where employers give employees a defined contribution to purchase their own individual c...

Here is a benefits question worth thinking about: what if instead of picking a health plan for your employees, you gave ...
05/26/2026

Here is a benefits question worth thinking about: what if instead of picking a health plan for your employees, you gave them the money and let them choose their own?

That is essentially what an ICHRA does. The employer sets a defined monthly contribution amount, employees use it to purchase their own individual health insurance coverage, and the reimbursements are tax-free. The employer locks in a predictable cost. The employee gets a plan that actually fits their situation, their doctors, and their budget.

It is gaining traction for good reasons, especially among employers with employees in multiple locations, a mix of full-time and part-time staff, or group plan costs that keep climbing faster than they can absorb.

We just published a plain-language guide to how ICHRAs work, where they tend to make the most sense, and what the real limitations look like before you consider making a move. Worth a read if this model has been on your radar.

Most employers offering health benefits have been doing it the same way for a long time. They select a group health plan, negotiate a contribution split with employees, and renew it each year as costs climb. It is familiar, but it is also increasingly expensive and increasingly one-size-fits-all in....

Did you know that somewhere between 20% and 30% of every dollar you spend on fully insured health insurance never touche...
05/19/2026

Did you know that somewhere between 20% and 30% of every dollar you spend on fully insured health insurance never touches an actual medical claim?

That portion goes to your carrier's profit margin, administrative costs, and risk reserves. In a year when your employees stay relatively healthy, that money simply stays with the carrier. There is no way to get any of it back.

Self-funding is a model that changes that equation. The employer pays actual claims rather than a fixed premium, uses stop-loss insurance to cap the worst-case exposure, and captures the savings when claims run favorably. It is how most large employers structure their health plans, and it is becoming increasingly viable for smaller companies too.

We just published a plain-language guide to how self-funding works, what it costs, what the risks actually look like, and how to know whether it might be right for your company. If you have never had this explained clearly, this is a good place to start.

If you have been offering health insurance for any length of time, you have almost certainly been doing it the same way: you pay a premium to an insurance carrier, the carrier covers your employees' claims, and the premium goes up every year whether your employees used a lot of…

If you offer health insurance, here is a scenario worth thinking through before it happens to you.A hospital or provider...
05/12/2026

If you offer health insurance, here is a scenario worth thinking through before it happens to you.

A hospital or provider your employees depend on falls out of network mid-year because its contract with your carrier breaks down. Employees who are mid-treatment, scheduled for surgery, or managing a serious condition suddenly face significantly higher costs for care they were counting on. And there is nothing you can do to make the carrier and hospital reach a deal.

These situations are becoming more common. And most employers are not sure what to do when they find themselves in one.

We just published a practical step-by-step guide covering exactly what employers should do when this happens, how continuity of care protections work, what your benefits broker can realistically help with, and what the experience should tell you about your next renewal. Worth bookmarking before you need it.

It is one of the more disruptive things that can happen to an employer health plan in the middle of a plan year. A hospital system or physician group that your employees have been using falls out of network because its contract with your insurance carrier breaks down. Suddenly employees…

Here is something a lot of business owners and HR leaders do not realize: their health plan may be out of compliance wit...
05/05/2026

Here is something a lot of business owners and HR leaders do not realize: their health plan may be out of compliance with federal mental health parity law right now.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act has been around since 2008, but the rules got significantly more demanding in 2025 and 2026, and federal enforcement has intensified along with them. Plans are now required to prove with data that mental health benefits are truly equivalent to medical benefits in how they actually function, not just how they are written on paper.

We just published a plain-language breakdown of what the current rules require, where plans most commonly fall short, and what employers should be doing right now to understand their exposure. It is the kind of compliance topic that is easy to put off until a problem surfaces, and a lot easier to address before that happens.

Worth a read if mental health parity has not come up in your benefits conversations recently.

Mental health parity is one of those compliance topics that most employers have heard of but far fewer actually understand. The result is that a significant number of health plans are currently out of compliance with federal law, and the employers sponsoring those plans may not know it until a…

A lot of small business owners offer a 401(k) and consider the retirement benefit box checked. But there is a lot of spa...
04/28/2026

A lot of small business owners offer a 401(k) and consider the retirement benefit box checked. But there is a lot of space between having a plan and having one that is actually working well for your employees.

High fees that nobody has ever reviewed. A match that used to be competitive but no longer is. Investment options that were chosen years ago and never revisited. Low participation rates that a simple plan design change could dramatically improve.

We just published a post walking through the seven most common retirement plan mistakes small and mid-size employers make and what a well-managed plan actually looks like. It is the kind of read that might prompt a conversation you have been putting off.

Retirement plan consulting is a core part of what we do at Cypress Benefit Solutions. If your plan has not had a formal review recently, we would be glad to take a look together.

Offering a 401(k) plan is one of the best things a small or mid-size employer can do for their workforce. It signals that the company is serious about its employees' long-term financial wellbeing, it provides a meaningful tax advantage for both the business and its people, and it is increasingly…

Quick question for any business owner or HR leader: if you had to rate your employee benefits package right now, what wo...
04/21/2026

Quick question for any business owner or HR leader: if you had to rate your employee benefits package right now, what would you give it?

Most employers would say somewhere between good and pretty good. But good and great are very different things when it comes to benefits, and the gap between them is not always where you would expect to find it.

We just published a post that walks through what a great benefits package actually looks like across every major category, with a practical self-assessment built in so you can evaluate your own as you go. Health insurance, dental and vision, life and disability, tax-advantaged accounts, voluntary benefits, the EAP, and benefits communication are all covered.

It is the kind of read that is useful whether you are building a package, evaluating what you have, or just trying to make sure you are getting the most out of what you are already spending.

Most employers believe they offer a good benefits package. And most of the time, they are right in the sense that they are covering the basics and spending real money to do it. But there is a meaningful difference between a benefits package that exists and one that actually works,…

If your health insurance renewal has felt more painful the last few years, you are not imagining it.Healthcare costs are...
04/14/2026

If your health insurance renewal has felt more painful the last few years, you are not imagining it.

Healthcare costs are projected to rise at the fastest pace in over 15 years heading into 2026. The median premium increase in the small group market is 11%. Pharmacy costs alone are projected to jump 11% to 12%. And the factors driving all of it, rising service costs, more utilization, expensive new medications, are not going away on their own.

We just published a post breaking down exactly what is happening in the market right now and what it means for employers who have a renewal coming up in the next several months. It is the kind of context that makes the renewal conversation a lot less surprising.

Worth a read before that renewal number lands in your inbox.

If you have been watching your health plan costs climb over the past few years and wondering whether things are going to level off anytime soon, the short answer is not yet. The data coming out of major employer health surveys for 2026 tells a consistent story: healthcare costs are…

Spring cleaning does not have to stop at the closets and the garage.If you offer employee benefits, this is actually one...
04/07/2026

Spring cleaning does not have to stop at the closets and the garage.

If you offer employee benefits, this is actually one of the best times of year to step back and ask whether what you have set up is still working the way it should. Plan designs drift. Ancillary benefits get forgotten. Employees stop using resources they do not understand. And by the time renewal season arrives, there is rarely enough time to think through any of it carefully.

We just published a practical post walking through the benefits decisions most worth revisiting this spring, including a simple nine-point checklist you can work through over the next few weeks.

No big overhaul required. Just a fresh look before renewal season heats up again.

Spring has a way of prompting people to take stock of what is working and what has been sitting around longer than it should. The same instinct that drives people to clean out closets and reorganize garages is worth applying to your employee benefits program. For most employers, benefits decisions.....

Quick question: when did your leadership team last have a real conversation about your employee benefits?Not the renewal...
03/31/2026

Quick question: when did your leadership team last have a real conversation about your employee benefits?

Not the renewal approval. An actual conversation about what the plan is doing, what it is costing, and whether it is working for your business and your people.

For most employers that conversation happens rarely, if ever. And that gap tends to show up in steadily rising costs and missed opportunities to manage them.

We just published a practical step-by-step guide for how to have that conversation with your leadership team, what to prepare, what questions to ask, and how to make sure something actually comes out of it.

Worth a read before your next renewal sneaks up on you.

Benefits decisions rarely get the same boardroom attention as other major line items in a company budget. Yet for most employers, health insurance and related benefits represent one of the largest expenses they carry each year, often second only to payroll. When that expense grows year after year wi...

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