Santa Clara, California employer health plans: what they cost and who gets paid
Updated plan year 2024, the most recent complete year
77 employers in Santa Clara, California filed health plans with 100 or more participants for plan year 2024, covering 125,202 participants. They reported $13M in insurance premiums and $19M in broker commissions and fees. Against 2023, premiums were down 36.5% and broker pay rose 7.7%.
Funding: 10 fully insured · 3 self-funded · 64 mixed. 67 of 77 plans pay at least some medical claims from the employer's own assets.
Largest employer health plans in Santa Clara
Santa Clara employers reporting the most insurance premium across every Schedule A contract, with what they paid brokers.
| Employer | Premiums | Broker pay | Participants | Top broker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forty Niners Holdings, LP | $4,503,017 | $21,824 | 361 | Abd Ins. & Financial SVCS., Inc. |
| Pure Storage, Inc. | $3,641,813 | $696,760 | 3,571 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Palo Alto Networks | $3,278,596 | $298,666 | 8,677 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Infoblox Inc. | $949,562 | $19,161 | 798 | Alliant Insurance Services |
| Nvidia Corporation | $326,367 | $562,077 | 14,244 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Paynearme, Inc. | $200,797 | $75,036 | 208 | Abd Ins. and Financial SVCS., Inc. |
| Agilent Technologies, Inc. | $177,085 | $43,387 | 5,882 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Omnivision Technologies, Inc. | $93,868 | $193,045 | 537 | Filice Insurance Services LLC |
| Tavant Technologies, Inc. | $2,105 | $210,363 | 263 | Acrisure |
| Si-Bone, Inc. | $1,193 | $26,837 | 321 | Kistler Tiffany Benefits Agency |
| HCL America Inc. | $0 | $835,564 | 20,356 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | $0 | $553,940 | 15,016 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Hitachi America, LTD | $0 | $3,766,674 | 14,088 | Woodruff Sawyer |
| Servicenow, Inc. | $0 | $657,333 | 13,312 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. | $0 | $372,076 | 3,091 | Marsh McLennan Agency |
| Arista Networks, Inc. | $0 | $358,979 | 2,063 | Sequoia |
| President & Board of Trustees of Santa Clara College | $0 | $411,558 | 1,800 | Marsh McLennan Agency |
| Veritas Technologies LLC | $0 | $275,668 | 1,762 | Gallagher |
| Shockwave Medical, Inc. | $0 | $645,830 | 1,238 | Alliant Insurance Services |
| Persistent Systems, Inc. | $0 | $818,990 | 1,163 | Sequoia |
| Netskope, Inc. | $0 | $46,664 | 1,125 | The Orientation Company, Inc. |
| One Workplace L. Ferrari | $0 | $209,398 | 940 | Marsh McLennan Agency |
| Cloudera, Inc. | $0 | $19,207 | 937 | Marsh McLennan Agency |
| Spirent Communications Inc. | $0 | $84,657 | 897 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Chegg, Inc | $0 | $145,483 | 808 | Sequoia |
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 Santa Clara employers, with the number of employer plans naming each broker.
| Broker | Commissions + fees | Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Willis Towers Watson | $3,715,664 | 11 |
| Sequoia | $3,375,135 | 14 |
| Woodruff Sawyer | $2,505,097 | 2 |
| Alliant Insurance Services | $1,880,704 | 10 |
| Marsh McLennan Agency | $853,394 | 6 |
| Abd Ins. and Financial SVCS., Inc. | $730,068 | 11 |
| Acrisure | $666,097 | 8 |
| Totalis Benefits Inc | $616,725 | 1 |
| SBR Services LLC | $447,768 | 1 |
| Gallagher | $381,647 | 7 |
Largest medical carriers
Medical premium written for these employers.
Santa Clara 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.
| Santa Clara | California | United States | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer plans | 77 | 6,836 | 58,547 |
| Median commission rate | n/a | 4.0% | 3.8% |
| Middle half of rates | n/a | 0.6% – 6.3% | 2.7% – 5.0% |
| Median broker pay per employer | $143,484 | $104,298 | $72,628 |
| Medical premium per covered person | n/a | $6,689 | $7,274 |
| Plans reporting no commission | 0 | 25 | 933 |
Year over year. In plan year 2023, 83 Santa Clara employers reported $21M in premiums and $18M in broker pay for 122,494 participants; in 2024 it was $13M and $19M for 125,202 participants (premiums −36.5%, broker pay +7.7%).
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 Santa Clara employers pay health insurance brokers?
77 Santa Clara employers reported $18,868,428 in broker commissions and fees on their 2024 Form 5500 filings, 77 of them disclosing at least some compensation. Too few fully insured medical plans in Santa Clara 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 Santa Clara employer that disclosed broker pay reported $143,484.
Which Santa Clara employers have the largest health plans?
By insurance premium reported for 2024, Forty Niners Holdings, LP ($4.5M), Pure Storage, Inc. ($3.6M), Palo Alto Networks ($3.3M) lead. 25 Santa Clara employers are listed on this page; every employer in the record has its own page.
Which brokers and carriers are paid the most in Santa Clara?
By compensation reported by Santa Clara employers, the largest brokers are Willis Towers Watson ($3.7M, 11 plans), Sequoia ($3.4M, 14 plans), Woodruff Sawyer ($2.5M, 2 plans). By medical premium, the largest carriers are Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Triple S Salud, Inc..
Are Santa Clara employer health plans self-funded or fully insured?
Of 77 Santa Clara employer plans, 10 are fully insured, 3 are self-funded and 64 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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