Broker-dealer and RIA networks can offer member-firms group-buying power through a single Benefitra-administered platform, without anyone changing payroll, custodian, or back-office.
Benefitra is the parent platform for benefits brokerage, HR SaaS, marketing, and decision-support tools. Broker-dealer parents, RIA networks, and financial-services associations can adopt one pillar or stack them across the member base.
Member-pooled group health, dental, vision, life, disability negotiated as a single renewal across participating firms.
Coverage stack →Funding-arrangement choice per member firm. Some firms join the pool, some run their own level-funded or self-funded plan.
Funding paths →Network-level demand generation and member-firm landing-page templates for advisor recruiting.
See trajectories →Member-firm benefits portal, total-rewards generator, advisor-onboarding workflow, 586 free calculators.
Browse tools →The platform sits beside the custodian, the BD affiliation, and the payroll provider. Member firms participate voluntarily. The network captures the buying power; member firms keep operational independence.
How a member-advantage plan works. Benefitra serves as the single broker-of-record for the program. Participating member firms submit a census, sign an adoption agreement, and elect coverage. Benefitra negotiates one consolidated renewal annually on behalf of the entire pool, using combined experience and demographics. Each firm receives an individualized rate sheet, but the negotiation leverage is shared across the network.
Eligibility for member firms. Most networks define eligibility by membership status and minimum-employee count (commonly 2 to 100 employees per firm). Eligibility rules are written into the master service agreement at launch and apply uniformly across the network. New member firms can join mid-cycle in most structures, with rates effective on the next renewal date or, for some carriers, on a prorated mid-year basis.
DOL/ERISA structure: single-employer vs MEWA vs Association Health Plan. Three structures are possible. Coordinated single-employer plans keep each member firm as its own plan sponsor while Benefitra negotiates on shared terms. A MEWA pools risk and shares funding across participating firms (state filing and federal compliance requirements apply). An Association Health Plan operates under DOL rules established for bona fide associations. Each structure has different filing, ERISA, and underwriting implications. We model all three with the network's counsel and recommend a structure before launch.
Annual rate negotiation. The pool's combined claims experience and demographic profile feed into a single renewal negotiation each year, typically beginning 120 days before the program anniversary. Benefitra benchmarks the pool against carrier book-of-business, contests outlier rate actions, and presents the consolidated renewal package to the network's program committee. Member firms receive individualized rates from the negotiated pool result.
Launching the member-advantage plan gave our network a real benefit to add to the affiliation pitch. Recruiting conversations now lead with the pooled health plan; we have closed three firms on the benefits alone.
One renewal cycle, one broker, one contact. Our member firms used to renegotiate health plans separately every fall; now it happens once and they get individualized rates from a single pool.
The structural work Benefitra did with our outside counsel was rigorous. We chose Association Health Plan after they modeled all three structures against our footprint. Three years in, the program runs clean.
Common questions from broker-dealer parents, RIA network executives, and association leadership.
We model the three structures (coordinated single-employer, MEWA, Association Health Plan) against your network footprint, member-firm census, and recruiting roadmap. One conversation tells you whether a member-advantage plan adds enough to justify the launch work.
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