BenefitsLedger
City · Plan year 2024 · Form 5500

San Mateo, California employer health plans: what they cost and who gets paid

Updated plan year 2024, the most recent complete year

69 employers in San Mateo, California filed health plans with 100 or more participants for plan year 2024, covering 45,743 participants. They reported $22M in insurance premiums and $9.1M in broker commissions and fees. Against 2023, premiums were up 53.5% and broker pay fell 18.0%.

Employer plans
69
45,743 participants
Premiums
$22M
+53.5% vs 2023
Broker pay
$9.1M
−18.0% vs 2023 · 69 disclosed
Median rate
n/a
too few insured medical plans

Funding: 7 fully insured · 3 self-funded · 59 mixed. 62 of 69 plans pay at least some medical claims from the employer's own assets.

Largest employer health plans in San Mateo

San Mateo employers reporting the most insurance premium across every Schedule A contract, with what they paid brokers.

EmployerPremiumsBroker payParticipantsTop broker
Essex Property Trust, Inc.$7,940,359$380,8581,782Alliant Insurance Services
Sequoia Benefits and Insurance Services, LLC$7,499,025$27,313833Sequoia
California Casualty Management Company$3,550,686$47,076407OneDigital
Franklin Resources, Inc.$1,085,323$120,8253,853Aon
Abd Insurance and Financial Services, Inc.$699,703$127,344751Abd Ins. and Financial SVCS., Inc.
Grace Management, Inc.$447,104$35,361175Fce Benefit Administrators, Inc.
Adams and Associates Inc$258,437$28,206947Bene Re LLC
Brightline, Inc.$251,815$88,125185Centerstone Insurance and Fin. SVCS
Peninsula Family Service$228,224$70,907147Heffernan
Verkada, Inc.$127,974$176,3271,586Sequoia
Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC$0$458,4055,663Willis Towers Watson
Freedom Financial Network, LLC$0$153,2442,650Alliant Insurance Services
Roblox Corporation$0$24,3542,330Sequoia
Rakuten USA, Inc. - Rakuten Americas Regional Headquarters, Inc.$0$203,4171,719Alliant Insurance Services
Evo Transportation and Energy Services Inc$0$508,3181,686USI Insurance Services
Guidewire Software, Inc.$0$110,5101,509Mercer
Honor Technology$0$27,2141,493Seth Kalkstein
Upstart Network, Inc.$0$61,4281,440Sequoia
CW Resources, Inc.$0$266,7281,401Fce Benefit Administrators Inc
Sodexo Management, Inc.$0$107,4161,234Fce Benefit Administrators, Inc.
Ixl Learning, Inc$0$137,4501,085Marsh McLennan Agency
Surveymonkey, Inc.$0$73,016626OneDigital
Challenge Unlimited, Inc.$0$112,150608Fce Benefit Administrators, Inc.
Farmer's Business Network, Inc.$0$135,595605Marsh McLennan Agency
Skydio, Inc.$0$161,491598Alliant Insurance Services

Source: DOL Form 5500 Schedule A, plan year 2024; employers are grouped by the sponsor's mailing city as filed. Self-funded employers show only stop-loss and ancillary premium.

Who gets paid

Commissions and fees reported by San Mateo employers, with the number of employer plans naming each broker.

Largest medical carriers

Medical premium written for these employers.

San Mateo against California and the U.S.

Medians over the same definitions on every BenefitsLedger page: commission rate on commission-paying, fully insured medical plans; broker pay per employer that disclosed any; medical premium per covered person.

San MateoCaliforniaUnited States
Employer plans696,83658,547
Median commission raten/a4.0%3.8%
Middle half of ratesn/a0.6% – 6.3%2.7% – 5.0%
Median broker pay per employer$88,125$104,298$72,628
Medical premium per covered personn/a$6,689$7,274
Plans reporting no commission225933

Year over year. In plan year 2023, 80 San Mateo employers reported $14M in premiums and $11M in broker pay for 48,398 participants; in 2024 it was $22M and $9.1M for 45,743 participants (premiums +53.5%, broker pay −18.0%).

Source: DOL Form 5500 and Schedule A, plan years 2024 and 2023, employer health plans with 100 or more participants; built October 24, 2026. Medians need at least 10 rated plans to be shown for a city. Methodology.

How much do San Mateo employers pay health insurance brokers?

69 San Mateo employers reported $9,082,540 in broker commissions and fees on their 2024 Form 5500 filings, 69 of them disclosing at least some compensation. Too few fully insured medical plans in San Mateo reported premium to compute a stable commission rate; the California median is 4.0% and the U.S. median is 3.8%. In dollars, the median San Mateo employer that disclosed broker pay reported $88,125.

Which San Mateo employers have the largest health plans?

By insurance premium reported for 2024, Essex Property Trust, Inc. ($7.9M), Sequoia Benefits and Insurance Services, LLC ($7.5M), California Casualty Management Company ($3.6M) lead. 25 San Mateo employers are listed on this page; every employer in the record has its own page.

Which brokers and carriers are paid the most in San Mateo?

By compensation reported by San Mateo employers, the largest brokers are Sequoia ($1.9M, 18 plans), Alliant Insurance Services ($1.1M, 6 plans), Fce Benefit Administrators, Inc. ($1.1M, 16 plans). By medical premium, the largest carriers are Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc..

Are San Mateo employer health plans self-funded or fully insured?

Of 69 San Mateo employer plans, 7 are fully insured, 3 are self-funded and 59 mix insured and self-funded coverage. Self-funded plans report only stop-loss and ancillary contracts on Schedule A, so their premium and broker pay understate total spend.

Other cities in California

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