How Full Grip Games Turned an 18% Health Insurance Premium Renewal Increase Into 52% Savings — on a Comparable Plan
Company Profile: Full Grip Games — a brick-and-mortar tabletop & video game retailer in Ohio with a small, tight-knit team. Their health benefits were placed through OneDigital — a large, nationally recognized employee-benefits brokerage — on a UnitedHealthcare Choice Plus POS plan ($3,000 deductible). They’ve been a Benefitra client since 2023.
I got a big health benefits rate increase, and I didn’t like the recommendations from my large, nationally recognized employee benefits agency, so I decided to speak with other agencies. None of them could provide the same level of solutions that Benefitra was able to. Now, we are saving 40% on both medical and overall costs while massively upgrading the health benefits.
The problem: a steep renewal and a big agency with one answer
- An 18% renewal increase hit the UnitedHealthcare plan — on top of an already-expensive premium
- The recommendations the firm got were to absorb the 18% or cut coverage — no alternative that actually moved the number
- They shopped it hard — the incumbent agency first, then others — before a structure finally surfaced that actually moved the number
The analysis: like-for-like, the market was 52% cheaper
1. Status quo — UnitedHealthcare POS (placed by OneDigital)
A UnitedHealthcare Choice Plus POS plan ($3,000 deductible) that had just absorbed a steep renewal, with no path offered to improve it.
Status quo unsustainable2. Benefitra’s model — 52% cheaper on identical coverage
Benefitra modeled the market against Full Grip’s exact coverage — same $3,000 deductible, same plan tier. The apples-to-apples result:
52% lower premium — same deductible, same coverage
The openingThe decision: upgrade the plan instead of just banking the cash
Rather than pocket the full 52%, Full Grip reinvested part of it into a better plan — moving to a richer $2,000-deductible PPO (lower deductible and broader network than the UHC POS). With health and admin/payroll bundled together, the total savings still landed at 40%:
- 52% available on a like-for-like (same-deductible) basis
- Chose a richer $2,000-deductible PPO instead — lower deductible, broader network
- 40% total savings across health and admin/payroll combined
Outcome: a better plan and 40% lower total cost
The rare renewal where the company spent less and got more — the opposite of the "absorb it or cut it" choice the firm felt it had been handed.
Full Grip made the switch in 2023 — and has renewed with Benefitra every year since (most recently the 2025–26 plan year). The savings held, and the plan stayed better.
40% lower total cost — with a richer plan
(52% on a like-for-like basis before the upgrade)
What other employers can take from this
The lesson is that a steep renewal increase is a prompt to act, not a number to absorb. By working the renewal and modeling alternatives, this employer turned a double-digit increase into substantial savings.
Any employer hit with a large renewal can apply the same response: model the increase against alternative carriers and funding before accepting it, and be willing to move if the numbers support it.
When this approach tends to fit:
- You received a steep renewal increase
- You have not compared alternatives this cycle
- You want to act before the deadline
- You are open to a different funding approach
For broader context on employer benefits, see KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey.
To explore the same approach for your own numbers, try the Premium Renewal Stress Test or the Benefits ROI Calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Is a big renewal increase negotiable?
The renewal itself may not be, but your options are. Modeling alternatives and being willing to move is what turns an increase into savings.
How fast can savings appear?
Many changes can take effect at the next plan period once you have modeled and chosen an alternative.
Where do I start?
Run your renewal scenarios so you can compare the increase against other paths.
Want this kind of result for your business?
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