Cypress Benefit Solutions

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

Quick compliance heads-up for any employer with 50 or more full-time employees.The IRS just released the 2027 ACA afford...
09/01/2026

Quick compliance heads-up for any employer with 50 or more full-time employees.

The IRS just released the 2027 ACA affordability threshold at 10.22%, the highest it has ever been. This number determines whether your employee health insurance contributions satisfy the employer mandate affordability standard. The penalty for getting it wrong went up about 13% this year, so it's worth double-checking before open enrollment is finalized.

We just published a plain-language breakdown of what this means and a checklist to work through before your 2027 plan year begins.

On July 21, 2026, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2026-26, which sets the ACA affordability percentage for plan years beginning in 2027 at 10.22%. That is up from 9.96% in 2026 and marks the first time the affordability threshold has exceeded 10% since the ACA was enacted. It is also…

Here is a reframe worth thinking about: employee wellbeing is not a feel-good expense. It is one of the most direct driv...
08/25/2026

Here is a reframe worth thinking about: employee wellbeing is not a feel-good expense. It is one of the most direct drivers of productivity, retention, and healthcare costs in your business.

Employees who are stressed about their finances, avoiding care because they can't afford the copay, or managing untreated mental health challenges are not performing at full capacity. That gap between what they could contribute and what they actually do shows up in your numbers, even when it's hard to trace back to the source.

We wrote about the research behind all of this this week and what employers can actually do about it. Worth a read if wellbeing has felt more like a nice-to-have than a business priority in your organization.

There is a version of the employee wellbeing conversation that sounds like a feel-good initiative with a soft return on investment. Wellness programs, mental health resources, flexible schedules, and benefits that go beyond the basics are easy to categorize as nice-to-haves rather than business nece...

Here is something most employers don't think about: when a high-cost employee leaves your health plan, the financial sto...
08/18/2026

Here is something most employers don't think about: when a high-cost employee leaves your health plan, the financial story doesn't necessarily end at their last day.

If they elect COBRA, their claims keep running through your plan. Claims incurred before termination may still count toward your stop-loss. And there are runout deadlines for pending claims that matter a lot if you want full reimbursement under your stop-loss contract.

We wrote about all of this this week in a practical breakdown of what employers actually need to do when a high-cost claimant separates. Worth a read if you are on a self-funded or level-funded plan.

It is a situation that comes up more often than employers expect, and the financial and compliance implications are more nuanced than most realize. An employee or covered dependent who has been generating significant health plan claims separates from employment. The immediate instinct for many emplo...

https://cypressbenefitsolutions.com/north-carolina-employers-the-2027-rate-filings-are-in-and-the-numbers-are-significan...
08/11/2026

https://cypressbenefitsolutions.com/north-carolina-employers-the-2027-rate-filings-are-in-and-the-numbers-are-significant/ North Carolina business owners and HR leaders: the state just published the initial health insurance rate filings for 2027 and there are some significant numbers in there.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC filed for a 20.9% small group rate increase. UnitedHealthcare came in around 18 to 19%. These are initial requests that will go through a DOI review process before final rates are set, but when multiple major carriers are filing in that range it tells you something about what the 2027 renewal environment is going to look like.

We broke it all down this week including what it means for different types of employers and what you should be doing right now if your plan renews in January.

If you are a North Carolina employer with a small group health plan renewing in 2027, the rate filing data that just hit the North Carolina Department of Insurance public disclosure page deserves your full attention. These are not national averages or projections from industry analysts. These are th...

Renewal season question: if your health insurance renewal came in significantly over budget, would you know what all you...
08/04/2026

Renewal season question: if your health insurance renewal came in significantly over budget, would you know what all your options are?

Most employers default to accepting the increase or asking their broker to shop alternatives. Both can be the right move. But there is a wider range of options than most employers realize, and knowing what they are before the deadline is on top of you makes a real difference in what you can actually accomplish.

We wrote about all of them this week in a post that is worth bookmarking if your renewal is coming up in the next few months.

It is one of the most common and frustrating moments in employer benefits management. Your health plan renewal arrives and the number is simply not workable. Maybe it is an eight percent increase when the budget assumed three. Maybe it is a double-digit jump that would require either a significant.....

Here is a question most employers have never been asked: what are the risks of staying on a fully insured health plan?Ev...
07/28/2026

Here is a question most employers have never been asked: what are the risks of staying on a fully insured health plan?

Everyone talks about the risks of self-funding. Cash flow. Claims volatility. What if something goes wrong. All fair points. But nobody talks about what staying fully insured is actually costing employers who have better claims experience than their carrier is pricing for, no visibility into what is driving their renewal increases, and no flexibility to customize their plan around what their workforce actually needs.

We wrote about both sides of this conversation this week because the honest answer is that fully insured is the right fit for some employers and genuinely not for others. The only way to know which category you are in is to actually look at it. Link below if you want to start there.

When the topic of self-funding or level-funded health plans comes up, the conversation almost always turns to risk. What happens if we have a bad claims year? What if someone gets really sick? What about cash flow? These are legitimate questions and they deserve honest answers. But there is a…

Here is something worth thinking about if your health insurance renews in January: October is too late to start.By the t...
07/21/2026

Here is something worth thinking about if your health insurance renews in January: October is too late to start.

By the time the renewal number lands on your desk, the window to meaningfully change the outcome has mostly closed. The employers who consistently feel in control of their benefits costs aren't doing anything fancy. They're just starting the conversation in July instead of November.

We wrote about what that third quarter agenda actually looks like this week and why it makes such a difference at renewal time. If benefits renewals have felt reactive in the past, this one's worth a read before the summer slips away.

Most employers with a January 1 renewal don't start thinking about it until October. By then the renewal number has already arrived, the timeline is compressed, and the pressure to make a decision quickly leaves little room for anything other than a reactive response. Whatever options might have bee...

If your company sponsors a self-funded or level-funded health plan, you have a filing deadline coming up fast: July 31.T...
07/14/2026

If your company sponsors a self-funded or level-funded health plan, you have a filing deadline coming up fast: July 31.

The PCORI fee for plan years ending in 2025 is due to the IRS by July 31, 2026. The rate for most calendar year plans is $3.84 per covered life. And heads up: the IRS released a new version of Form 720 on July 7 after withdrawing an earlier June version, so make sure you are using the right one before you file.

We just published a plain-language guide covering everything you need to know to get this done before the deadline.

If you sponsor a self-funded or level-funded health plan, there is a compliance deadline coming up fast that is easy to miss and carries real penalties if you do. The PCORI fee for plan years ending in 2025 is due to the IRS by July 31, 2026, and the form…

If your benefits are changing this fall, the way you communicate it to your team will matter more than most employers ex...
07/07/2026

If your benefits are changing this fall, the way you communicate it to your team will matter more than most employers expect.

A deductible increase that is explained well, with honest context about why it happened and what it means, lands very differently than one that shows up in an enrollment packet with no explanation. Employees can handle difficult news. What they struggle with is feeling like they were not given the full picture.

We wrote about this topic this week with some practical guidance on what good benefits change communication looks like heading into open enrollment season. Link below if you want to take a look before your plan goes out.

Every employer who has ever raised a deductible, changed carriers, reduced a benefit, or restructured a contribution split knows what comes next. Confusion. Frustration. Employees who feel like something was taken from them without adequate explanation. And in the worst cases, a quiet erosion of tru...

Here is a stat worth thinking about if you offer health insurance to your team: 40% of employer-insured Americans are sk...
06/30/2026

Here is a stat worth thinking about if you offer health insurance to your team: 40% of employer-insured Americans are skipping or delaying care because they can't afford the out-of-pocket costs.

These aren't uninsured people. They're your employees, enrolled in the plan you're paying for, making the same choices as someone with no coverage at all. And the stress of it doesn't stay home when they come to work.

We wrote about this issue this week, what's driving it, and what employers can actually do about it without necessarily blowing up the budget. Link below if you want to dig in.

There is a distinction that does not get nearly enough attention in employer benefits conversations: the difference between having health insurance and actually being able to use it. Most employers assume that once their employees are enrolled in a health plan, the access problem is solved. The data...

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