September 8, 2023

Majority of employers in the United States rely on their benefit brokers to assist them with finding cost-effective benefit options for their employees. Unfortunately, many of the larger brokers provide recommendations to their clients that may not always have the clients’ best interest at heart. These brokers are incentivized through “fees” to place business with one of the “Big 3 PBMs”: Express Scripts, Optum, or CVS. The STAT News Investigation highlights this conflict of interest.
Even with these dynamics, according to a survey done by Benefits Pro, 2 out of 3 employers are either extremely or very satisfied and none were dissatisfied with their benefit broker. The independent brokers have shied away from taking “hidden” or “undisclosed” fees from PBMs. These brokers are concerned that their clients would have a negative perception of them if the clients learned that they were profiting from entities that the employer had asked them to independently evaluate. Employers need to ask their benefit brokers what their sources of revenue are. If they are getting fees directly from PBMs, they need to reconsider if that broker is truly a partner.
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