Everything you want to know before you start.

Benefixa provides independent oversight of employer healthcare strategy.

In plain language: we give CEOs, CFOs, and HR leaders an objective view of whether their healthcare plan is performing as well as it should — what’s driving costs, where money is being left on the table, and what a better path forward looks like.

We don’t sell insurance. We don’t replace your broker. We don’t manage your plan. We give leadership the independent perspective that nobody else in the room is positioned to provide.

A broker’s job is to place your coverage. Their compensation is typically tied to the premium you pay — which means their financial incentives aren’t always perfectly aligned with yours.

That’s not a criticism. Brokers do important work. But it does mean there’s a perspective missing from most renewal conversations: an independent one.

Benefixa has no financial relationship with carriers, PBMs, or vendors. We are paid directly by the employer and only by the employer. Our only job is to tell you the truth about whether your strategy is working.

No. Most of our clients keep their existing broker throughout and after a Benefixa engagement.

Our role isn’t to replace your broker — it’s to give leadership an independent view of whether the overall strategy is optimized. In many cases, a Benefixa engagement strengthens the broker relationship by creating clearer expectations and better accountability on both sides.

Benefixa was founded by Ray Kober — host of the Broken Healthcare Podcast and a healthcare industry veteran who spent years speaking with physicians, CFOs, policymakers, and benefits leaders about why costs keep rising and what employers can actually do about it.

The consistent theme across those conversations: employers were making million-dollar healthcare decisions without independent information about whether their strategy was working. Benefixa was built to change that.

Benefixa is an independent healthcare advisory firm — led by real people who review, analyze, and advise on employer healthcare strategy.

We use data, benchmarking tools, and analytical frameworks to support our work — but the value we deliver is expert, independent judgment. Not software.

We also power Rate My Benefits — a diagnostic platform that gives employers a structured way to evaluate their current strategy before or alongside a full Benefixa engagement.

A good starting point is three questions:

• When was our healthcare strategy last independently reviewed — not by our broker, not by our carrier, but by someone with no financial stake in the outcome?
• Do we know our top three healthcare cost drivers — not assumptions, actual data?
• Was our last renewal increase actually unavoidable?

If you struggled to answer any of those confidently, an independent review is worth exploring.

The answer isn’t that your broker isn’t good. The answer is that even the best broker isn’t positioned to give you an independent view of their own work.

What Benefixa provides isn’t a replacement for your broker. It’s a layer of independent verification that most leadership teams have never had — confirmation that the strategy is optimized, the contracts are fair, and the plan is performing as well as it could.

Benefixa works with employers across a wide range of sizes — from organizations with 50 employees to those with several thousand.

The math works at both ends. An employer spending $1 million a year on healthcare and an employer spending $50 million both benefit from independent oversight — the opportunity is proportional to the spend.

Our initial benchmark review helps us quickly determine whether meaningful opportunity exists for your specific organization. If it doesn’t, we’ll tell you that honestly.

Both fully insured and self-funded employers benefit from independent oversight — but in different ways.

Self-funded employers typically have more levers to pull and more data to analyze, which often means greater opportunity for savings and optimization.

Fully insured employers may have fewer variables to adjust, but independent benchmarking still reveals whether the premium, plan design, and carrier arrangement are competitive — and whether a move to self-funding or level-funding makes financial sense.

After you submit, a member of the Benefixa team will review your information and reach out — typically within one business day — to schedule a confidential 15-minute introductory call with Ray Kober.

On that call, Ray will ask a few questions about your organization, share an initial read on whether meaningful opportunity may exist, and explain what a full engagement would involve.

There is no obligation at this stage.

Very little. To begin an initial benchmark review, we typically need only two things:

• Approximate number of employees enrolled in your healthcare plan
• Annual healthcare spend — a rough estimate is fine

No census files. No SSNs. No claims data. No disruption to your existing team or broker relationship.

Initial benchmark reviews are typically completed within one to two weeks of our first call.

Full strategic engagements vary based on the complexity of your plan and the scope of the review — but most clients receive an initial findings presentation within four to six weeks.

If you have an upcoming renewal, tell us. We’ll prioritize accordingly.

No. Benefixa engagements are designed to be non-disruptive.

We work with whatever data is available, communicate through whatever channel suits your team, and operate independently of your existing broker relationship.

Many employers choose not to inform their broker that a Benefixa review is underway until findings have been completed. That decision is entirely yours.

Every engagement is structured around your specific situation, but typical deliverables include:

• Independent benchmark analysis of your healthcare spend vs. comparable organizations
• Identification of cost drivers, inefficiencies, and optimization opportunities
• Assessment of carrier, PBM, and vendor contract terms
• Claims trend analysis and fiduciary risk review
• A clear, documented roadmap with specific recommended next steps
• An executive presentation suitable for board or leadership review

The goal is not a report that sits on a shelf. It’s a practical, actionable path forward leadership can defend and act on with confidence.

Benefixa engagements are structured around the size of your healthcare spend — not a flat fee.

Our advisory fee is calibrated so that it is modest relative to the opportunity we are engaged to identify. The exact fee is discussed and agreed during the initial consultation, after we understand the scope of your situation.

The most important thing to understand about cost: Benefixa backs every engagement with a guarantee. If we don’t identify meaningful savings opportunities worth pursuing, you owe nothing. The financial risk sits with us — not with you.

Benefixa targets a 10X return on our advisory fee in identified savings opportunities.

If we do not identify a meaningful path to savings that justifies our engagement, you pay nothing.

Specific guarantee terms, including refund mechanics and the definition of “identified savings,” are finalized in the engagement agreement before work begins.

It happens — occasionally. Some employers have done excellent work and their strategy is genuinely well-optimized.

If that’s what an independent review finds, we’ll tell you. Independent confirmation that your strategy is performing well is itself a valuable governance outcome.

The honest answer is: after years of independent reviews, finding nothing is rare. There is almost always something worth examining.

Yes. The Start Your Review form is genuinely low-commitment.

Submitting it triggers a confidential initial benchmark review based on your headcount and approximate spend — no census files, no SSNs, no disruption.

From there, you’ll have a 15-minute call with Ray Kober. No obligation to proceed. No fee at this stage.

Yes. Ravn Alaska — a regional airline serving some of America’s most remote communities — engaged Benefixa after leadership suspected their healthcare strategy had not been independently reviewed.

An independent Benefixa review identified $1.3 million in savings in year one, a 50% reduction compared with the prior arrangement, and $0 out-of-pocket costs for impacted employees.

Read the Ravn Alaska case study →

Savings opportunities vary by organization but commonly include:

• Plan design inefficiencies
• Pharmacy spend optimization
• Network and carrier contract benchmarking
• Stop-loss structure review
• Claims leakage
• Vendor and TPA alignment
• Fiduciary risk exposure

No two engagements surface exactly the same findings. That’s why the initial benchmark review matters.

Every savings opportunity Benefixa identifies is documented with the underlying data and methodology that supports it.

We do not present inflated projections. We present findings we are confident enough in to back with our guarantee.

The goal is findings you can act on, defend, and verify — not numbers designed to justify our fee.

Under ERISA — and reinforced by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 — plan sponsors have fiduciary obligations to manage their healthcare plan in the best interest of participants.

This means CFOs, HR Directors, CEOs, and anyone on the benefits planning committee may have responsibilities if the plan is mismanaged through improperly paid claims, conflicted vendor relationships, or failure to independently verify that plan assets are being managed appropriately.

Benefixa engagements help employers demonstrate fiduciary prudence by creating a documented record that leadership took independent steps to verify the strategy.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 expanded transparency requirements for employer-sponsored healthcare plans.

Among other provisions, it requires brokers and advisors to disclose their compensation and conflicts of interest — and it holds plan fiduciaries accountable for ensuring their advisors are compliant.

Independent oversight through Benefixa is one way to demonstrate that leadership took the obligation seriously.

Working with Benefixa demonstrates that leadership took active, documented steps to independently verify the performance of the healthcare plan — a core component of fiduciary prudence.

We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Whether a specific employer is protected from a specific liability claim depends on the facts and circumstances.

We recommend consulting legal counsel on specific fiduciary questions.

The simplest starting point is the Start Your Review form at benefixa.com/start-review.

Submit your name, work email, approximate headcount, and annual healthcare spend. A member of the Benefixa team will follow up within one business day to schedule a 15-minute confidential call with Ray Kober.

Yes. You can connect with Ray directly on LinkedIn or email solutions@benefixa.com with a brief description of your situation.

It’s rarely too late — but earlier is always better.

If your renewal is within 60 days, we can typically complete an initial benchmark review and preliminary findings in time to inform your renewal conversation. Tell us your timeline when you submit the form and we’ll prioritize accordingly.

Several options are free:

• Watch the documentary
• Listen to the Broken Healthcare Podcast
• Try Rate My Benefits

When you’re ready, the Start Your Review form is always there.