.png?width=500&height=136&name=4J%20commercial%20insurance%20broker%5B1%5D%20(1).png)
My renewal just came in
If the number went up and no one explained why, a short review may help you see what is driving it and what your options could be.
Employee benefits that work as hard as your team does
Benefits are Expensive! (If done wrong)
Structure Makes all the difference.
Employee benefits are often the second largest line item after payroll. 4J helps Texas employers design plans that attract good people and keep costs predictable, without guessing at what the fine print means.
4J Insurance Brokerage specializes in employee benefits and group health strategy for North Texas employers with approximately 50 to 500 employees , and selectively serves smaller organizations based on their needs and complexity.
Working across the metroplex? Start with the Dallas-Fort Worth employee benefits page.
Not Sure Where to Start?
If you are working through a rule rather than shopping a plan, start in the Employee Benefits & ACA Resource Center. It covers ACA employer mandate compliance, health plan funding structures, benefits compliance obligations, and the tools to check your own numbers — with every regulatory figure linked to its IRS, DOL or CMS source.
Where are you right now?
I need to check a rule
Affordability, full-time counts and filing duties all have firm numbers behind them. Our tools and guides can help you check yours.
I would rather just ask someone
Most employers who call have one specific question. A short call often answers it faster than reading three more pages. Or book a time online.
ACA compliance, one question at a time.
The mandate turns on counts, thresholds and filings, and each one has a separate answer.
- Applicable Large Employer (ALE)
Whether the employer mandate applies to you at all starts with this count. - Full-Time Equivalent Employees
Part-time hours aggregate into full-time equivalents, and the math decides your status. - Measurement Methods
Monthly or look-back changes who counts as full-time, and when. - Minimum Essential Coverage and Minimum Value
Two different tests, and a plan can satisfy one while failing the other. - 1094-C and 1095-C Reporting
Filing obligations, deadlines, and what the IRS matches against.
Funding decides where the claims risk sits.
Changing funding structure changes cash flow, data access and downside exposure together.
- Fully Insured, Level-Funded and Self-Funded
Where claims risk sits, and what changes about cash flow and data access. - Stop-Loss Insurance
What caps the exposure when one claim or a bad year threatens a self-funded plan.
Check the numbers before the conversation.
Both calculators run on your own workforce data.
- ALE Calculator
Check whether your workforce places you inside the employer mandate. - 2027 ACA Affordability Calculator
Test contribution levels against the 2027 threshold.
Before you accept the renewal.
Renewal terms should be challenged, not simply accepted. Start by understanding what drives the number and what your broker should be doing about it.
- Why Renewals Increase
What actually drives the number before you negotiate it. - What a Renewal Review Requires
The four documents a broker needs before a review means anything. - What to Expect From a Benefits Broker
The service standard to hold your current broker against. - How to Judge Broker Performance
Concrete tests, not impressions.
The rest of the program, one decision at a time.
Compliance duties, account rules and the people side of the plan, each answered on its own page.
- Reduce Health Plan Costs Without Cutting Benefits
The five levers that cut cost without cutting value, and the order to test them. - ERISA Employer Responsibilities
Plan documents, summary plan descriptions, Form 5500 and the gaps most employers have. - COBRA and Texas State Continuation
Who must offer continuation coverage, for how long, and where employers get hurt. - HSA, FSA and Account-Based Plans
Three account types, three rulebooks, and the pairing rules that trip people up. - Dental, Vision, Life and Disability
Which lines to fund, which to offer voluntary, and where participation rules bite. - Open Enrollment Strategy
The working-backwards timeline, active versus passive enrollment, and what to measure. - Pharmacy Benefits and Rx Cost
Why prescriptions drive renewals and the questions that make the carrier show its work. - Benefits Benchmarking
The five numbers a CFO should compare before accepting a renewal. - Benefits, Recruiting and Retention
Where benefits actually move hiring and turnover, and where more spend does not help.
Designing the program, and staying compliant while you do.
Package design, employer size, long term strategy and the compliance calendar, each answered on its own page.
What Goes Into an Employee Benefits Package
The four layers a package is built from, how each is funded, and the design decisions that actually change what employees think it is worth.
Small Business Employee Benefits
What a smaller employer needs before a group plan is possible, what drives the cost, and when a reimbursement arrangement is the more honest answer.
Employee Benefits Strategy
The five decisions that compound, why funding, contribution and plan menu should not all move in the same year, and the five numbers to track.
Employee Benefits Compliance
Which obligation comes from ERISA, the ACA, COBRA or HIPAA, the calendar each runs on, and the growth thresholds that start them without warning.
Employee Benefits Liability Coverage
The commercial policy that responds when benefits administration goes wrong, and how it differs from fiduciary liability and the ERISA bond.
Benefits programs we build
Group Health Insurance
Fully insured group medical plans for Texas employers, with carrier comparisons, renewal negotiation, and an Affordable Care Act compliance check built in.
Level Funded Health Plans
A middle path between fully insured and self funded. Premiums stay fixed each month, and a good claims year can return part of what you paid. We model whether it fits your group.
Medical Stop Loss
Protection for self funded and level funded plans when a single large claim or a bad claims year threatens the budget. We review attachment points and contract terms.
Benefits decisions should be made with claims data and plan documents on the table, not sales brochures
Group Health Insurance Glossary
Understand plan, funding, coverage and benefits terminology before the renewal conversation.
More ways we support your plan
Benefits Administration
Enrollment support, employee communications, and a single point of contact all year, so benefits questions do not land on your desk. See how we run open enrollment.
Dental, Vision, and Ancillary
Dental, vision, life, and disability coverage that rounds out your medical plan and helps your offer stand out to new hires. Start with the ancillary decision framework.
Benefits Cost Review
A side-by-side look at what you pay, what employees pay, and what the plan actually delivers, with clear options before your next renewal.
What is your benefits plan actually costing you?
Want a second set of eyes before you accept the renewal? A Group Health Renewal Review examines the plan, funding structure, contribution strategy and renewal assumptions before you sign.
Often relevant alongside this
- Employee data and plan administration Compliance obligations that sit alongside privacy and security exposure.
- How the plan is funded Fully insured, level funded and self funded compared.
- Why the renewal moved What drives an increase before you shop it.
- Have the renewal reviewed Diagnostic on the current programme.