Santa Monica, California employer health plans: what they cost and who gets paid
Updated plan year 2024, the most recent complete year
59 employers in Santa Monica, California filed health plans with 100 or more participants for plan year 2024, covering 42,535 participants. They reported $14M in insurance premiums and $11M in broker commissions and fees. Against 2023, premiums were down 11.3% and broker pay fell 7.5%.
Funding: 10 fully insured · 2 self-funded · 47 mixed. 49 of 59 plans pay at least some medical claims from the employer's own assets.
Largest employer health plans in Santa Monica
Santa Monica employers reporting the most insurance premium across every Schedule A contract, with what they paid brokers.
| Employer | Premiums | Broker pay | Participants | Top broker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ziprecruiter, Inc. | $12,052,409 | $54,824 | 983 | Alliant Insurance Services |
| Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences | $1,842,386 | $155,486 | 280 | Gallagher |
| Sensei Wellness Holdings Inc. | $117,597 | $147,246 | 209 | Alliant Insurance Services |
| Macerich Management Company | $66,693 | $238,571 | 597 | Custom Benefit Programs Inc. |
| Activision Blizzard | $0 | $781,465 | 8,526 | Acrisure |
| Snap Inc. | $0 | $155,985 | 3,832 | Sequoia |
| Red Bull Distribution Company | $0 | $19,374 | 3,806 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Umg Recordings, Inc. | $0 | $320,008 | 3,582 | Alliant Insurance Services |
| Red Bull North America, Inc. | $0 | $19,374 | 1,887 | Willis Towers Watson |
| The Rand Corporation | $0 | $219,965 | 1,784 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc. | $0 | $449,642 | 1,391 | Marsh McLennan Agency |
| Cornerstone Ondemand, Inc. | $0 | $57,335 | 1,302 | Gallagher |
| Headspace, Inc. | $0 | $174,731 | 930 | Sequoia |
| Goodrx Inc. | $0 | $551,710 | 721 | Mercer |
| Douglass Emmett Properties, LP | $0 | $245,338 | 715 | USI Insurance Services |
| Company 3 / Method Inc. | $0 | $178,058 | 687 | Mercer |
| Entravision Communications Corp. | $0 | $319,639 | 618 | Principal Benefit Ins. Solutions |
| William Warren Properties, Inc. | $0 | $197,675 | 616 | The Baldwin Group |
| Maron & Sandler, PC | $0 | $392,808 | 597 | Mercer |
| Rubin Postaer and Associates | $0 | $456,619 | 529 | Executive Financial Bene-Facts Inc |
| Edmunds.Com, Inc. | $0 | $390,515 | 472 | Mercer |
| Skydance Media, LLC | $0 | $631,809 | 420 | RSC Insurance Brokerage, Inc. |
| Step Up on Second Street, Inc. | $0 | $296,076 | 419 | Hillcrest Insurance Services, Inc. |
| Shapco, Inc. | $0 | $148,104 | 403 | USI Insurance Services |
| Cypress Creek Renewables, LLC | $0 | $225,029 | 398 | Lockton |
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 Monica employers, with the number of employer plans naming each broker.
| Broker | Commissions + fees | Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Mercer | $1,540,903 | 6 |
| Marsh McLennan Agency | $735,193 | 4 |
| Sequoia | $722,986 | 5 |
| Gallagher | $694,662 | 6 |
| RSC Insurance Brokerage, Inc. | $631,599 | 1 |
| Lockton | $603,124 | 4 |
| USI Insurance Services | $496,832 | 6 |
| Alliant Insurance Services | $473,940 | 5 |
| HUB International | $442,603 | 4 |
| Acrisure | $406,197 | 2 |
Largest medical carriers
Medical premium written for these employers.
Santa Monica 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 Monica | California | United States | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer plans | 59 | 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 | $155,985 | $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, 69 Santa Monica employers reported $16M in premiums and $12M in broker pay for 44,599 participants; in 2024 it was $14M and $11M for 42,535 participants (premiums −11.3%, broker pay −7.5%).
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 Monica employers pay health insurance brokers?
59 Santa Monica employers reported $11,376,261 in broker commissions and fees on their 2024 Form 5500 filings, 59 of them disclosing at least some compensation. Too few fully insured medical plans in Santa Monica 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 Monica employer that disclosed broker pay reported $155,985.
Which Santa Monica employers have the largest health plans?
By insurance premium reported for 2024, Ziprecruiter, Inc. ($12M), Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences ($1.8M), Sensei Wellness Holdings Inc. ($117,597) lead. 25 Santa Monica 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 Monica?
By compensation reported by Santa Monica employers, the largest brokers are Mercer ($1.5M, 6 plans), Marsh McLennan Agency ($735,193, 4 plans), Sequoia ($722,986, 5 plans). By medical premium, the largest carriers are Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Cigna Healthcare of California, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc..
Are Santa Monica employer health plans self-funded or fully insured?
Of 59 Santa Monica employer plans, 10 are fully insured, 2 are self-funded and 47 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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