Lone Star Benefits, Inc.

05/25/2026

Today we pause to honor the men and women who gave everything in service to our country.🇺🇸

To the fallen and to the families who carry their memory, thank you. Your sacrifice is not forgotten.❤️🤍💙

05/21/2026

Lone Star Benefits was featured this week in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram discussing a benefit that's surging in popularity ➡️ Dependent Care FSAs.

Childcare costs in Texas now average $10K-$11K/year, and working parents are struggling to balance return-to-office expectations with these skyrocketing expenses.

Dependent Care FSAs can offset some of this expense by allowing employees to set aside up to $7,500/year in pre-tax dollars to cover childcare, camps, and programs.

Why it works:

✅ Employees save on taxes (take home more money)
✅ Employers save on payroll taxes (offset by minimal admin fees)
✅ Retention increases (working parents feel supported)

We have seen a significant uptick in employers adding this benefit post-COVID. It's a low-cost, high-impact way to support employees during a time when childcare is one of the biggest financial stressors for families.

And the IRS helped out by increasing the contribution limit to $7,500 this year, up from $5,000.

If you're an employer that wants to enhance your benefits package at a very nominal cost to you, implementing a Dependent Care FSA is a very easy way to do this.

More employers are offering this kind of Flexible Spending Account as a retention strategy in the post-COVID era.

04/14/2026

We're thrilled to welcome Lauren Ashley to the Lone Star Benefits team as our newest Account Executive!

With many years of experience in benefits and HR, Lauren is here to provide the same white-glove service and strategic guidance our clients have come to expect from LSB. (And her love of dogs makes her a perfect fit for LSB too!)

Welcome, Lauren! We're lucky to have you! 🤘⭐

04/05/2026

Wishing your family a blessed Easter!✝️

04/03/2026

Our office is closed today in observance of Good Friday. We’ll be back and ready to connect on Monday. Wishing everyone a beautiful Easter weekend! 🌷

03/10/2026

Some of the Lone Star Benefits team attended the Pareto Health Captive Conference this morning! 🎯

Why?

Because we're always looking for better ways to bring savings to our clients.

Captive insurance programs are one of the most underutilized strategies in the benefits world — and they're helping mid-sized employers take control of their healthcare costs in ways fully insured plans never could.

What makes captives different?

➡️ Employers self-fund as a group and share risk
➡️ Transparency into every claim and every dollar
➡️ When claims are favorable, employers keep the surplus (not the carrier)
➡️ Predictable costs, rich benefits, and long-term savings

Why this matters to our clients:

At Lone Star Benefits, our mission is simple: Bring you the best benefit solutions possible to save on insurance costs while still delivering rich benefits to your team.

That means we don't settle for the status quo. We explore:

✅ Self-funded and level-funded plans
✅ Captive programs
✅ Reference-based pricing
✅ Pharmacy carve-outs
✅ Direct primary care
✅ Every cost-containment strategy that makes sense for YOU

Your employees need great benefits. Your business needs to control costs. We make both happen.

If you're tired of double-digit renewals and want to explore smarter options, let's talk.

03/09/2026

🩺 Is AI Listening in Your Doctor's Office?

You walk in for your appointment, sit down with your doctor — and a small notice on the wall quietly tells you: this visit may be transcribed by artificial intelligence.

✅ THE CASE FOR IT:
→ Doctors spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients
→ Reduces physician burnout — clinical notes are one of healthcare's biggest time sinks
→ May produce more thorough records of complex conversations
→ Speeds up billing and referral workflows

⚠️ THE REAL CONCERNS:
→ AI mishears, misattributes, or miscontextualizes medical language
→ Who is actually reviewing the transcript for accuracy — and when?
→ An error in your record can follow you for years
→ Where is your conversation stored, and who can access it?

Now here are the questions I keep thinking about:

❓ How do YOU feel about AI transcribing your private interactions with your doctor?

❓ Are you confident your doctor will review the transcription for accuracy before it becomes part of your permanent medical record?

❓ What if the AI gets it wrong — and that error shapes your diagnosis, prescriptions, or insurance coverage?

❓ Should patients have the right to review and approve an AI-generated transcription BEFORE it becomes an official part of their medical record?

Your health record is your story. Who gets to write it?

Technology can be an incredible tool in medicine — but transparency, accuracy, and patient consent must come first. We can't let efficiency outpace accountability.

03/08/2026

Happy International Women's Day! 💜💪

Fun fact: Women make about 80% of healthcare decisions for their families.
So when we're explaining deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, and why that hospital bill is wrong... we're usually talking to the women in the room.

To all the women juggling benefits enrollment, family healthcare, career goals, and approximately 47 other things at once:

You're crushing it!🙌

To the women business owners fighting to provide great benefits for their teams while keeping costs down — we see you!

To the HR pros and benefits managers navigating open enrollment like absolute bosses — you're the real MVPs!

And to the women on the team at Lone Star Benefits — thank you for making Lone Star Benefits, Inc. what it is. Couldn't do this without you! 🤘⭐

03/06/2026

Happy Employee Appreciation Day to the Lone Star Benefits, Inc. Team! 🎉

To my entire team, thank YOU for showing up every day ready to fight for our clients!! Thank you for answering the "quick questions" that turn into hour-long conversations. Thank you for caring about the families behind every employee ID number. Thank you for making benefits less scary and more understandable for the people who need it most. 👏

You could work anywhere but you choose to work here. And that means everything to me. When you own a business, you are only as strong as your team and I thank God daily for the rock star team that I have and that has contributed to the continued success at Lone Star Benefits! 💖

Here's to each of you! (And enjoy your bonus day off work today as my appreciation to you!)🤘⭐

- Heather Heath Bowers

03/04/2026

💡 Can I financially incentivize an employee to elect Medicare instead of our group health plan?

We've had this question come up quite a bit lately as employers are trying to find ways to get Medicare eligible employees to elect Medicare instead of remaining on the employer sponsored health plan.

Unfortunately, if you have 20+ employees, you are not able to do this due to the Medicare Secondary Payer rules. If you get caught doing this, it could trigger a penalty of $11,823 per violation. 💰

Reach out to us for a great article that will further break this down for you.