Evanston, Illinois employer health plans: what they cost and who gets paid
Updated plan year 2024, the most recent complete year
16 employers in Evanston, Illinois filed health plans with 100 or more participants for plan year 2024, covering 47,102 participants. They reported $149M in insurance premiums and $4.8M in broker commissions and fees. Against 2023, premiums were up 651.9% and broker pay rose 33.5%.
Funding: 2 fully insured · 4 self-funded · 10 mixed. 14 of 16 plans pay at least some medical claims from the employer's own assets.
Largest employer health plans in Evanston
Evanston employers reporting the most insurance premium across every Schedule A contract, with what they paid brokers.
| Employer | Premiums | Broker pay | Participants | Top broker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern University | $135,291,785 | $963,581 | 12,195 | Mercer |
| Rotary International | $9,939,851 | $38,631 | 515 | Willis Towers Watson |
| National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States | $4,114,491 | $111,004 | 232 | Brown & Brown |
| Endeavor Health | $0 | $1,960,373 | 25,583 | Custom Benefit Programs Inc. |
| ZS Associates, Inc. | $0 | $178,947 | 2,850 | Lockton |
| Extended Care Consulting, LLC | $0 | $263,556 | 1,552 | Evergreen Benefits Group |
| Right at School, LLC | $0 | $251,630 | 851 | OneDigital |
| Ornua Foods North America, Inc. | $0 | $432,036 | 845 | CBIZ |
| Mather | $0 | $130,766 | 506 | Willis Towers Watson |
| Altitude Health Services, Inc. | $0 | $18,812 | 415 | Truenorth Companies, L.C. |
| Hagerty Consulting, Inc. | $0 | $28,402 | 382 | Zemar Investments, Inc. |
| Ulse Inc. | $0 | $246,015 | 379 | OneDigital |
| C. E. Niehoff & Co. | $0 | $16,594 | 298 | Cottingham and Butler Insurance |
| Magnetar Capital LLC | $0 | $20,236 | 183 | HUB International |
| Cardinal Intellectual Property, Inc. | $0 | $77,999 | 172 | OneDigital |
| Beghou Consulting | $0 | $100,257 | 144 | GCG Financial, LLC |
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 Evanston employers, with the number of employer plans naming each broker.
| Broker | Commissions + fees | Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Custom Benefit Programs Inc | $1,852,753 | 1 |
| CBIZ | $432,036 | 1 |
| Mercer | $420,952 | 1 |
| OneDigital | $420,691 | 3 |
| Gallagher | $394,618 | 2 |
| Evergreen Benefits Group | $261,063 | 1 |
| Lockton | $178,623 | 1 |
| Strategic Non-Medical Solution | $161,983 | 1 |
| Brown & Brown | $103,379 | 1 |
| Matthew Rednour | $101,475 | 1 |
Largest medical carriers
Medical premium written for these employers.
Evanston against Illinois 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.
| Evanston | Illinois | United States | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer plans | 16 | 2,831 | 58,547 |
| Median commission rate | n/a | 1.5% | 3.8% |
| Middle half of rates | n/a | 0.4% – 3.1% | 2.7% – 5.0% |
| Median broker pay per employer | $120,885 | $85,899 | $72,628 |
| Medical premium per covered person | n/a | $6,708 | $7,274 |
| Plans reporting no commission | 0 | 30 | 933 |
Year over year. In plan year 2023, 16 Evanston employers reported $20M in premiums and $3.6M in broker pay for 38,316 participants; in 2024 it was $149M and $4.8M for 47,102 participants (premiums +651.9%, broker pay +33.5%).
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 Evanston employers pay health insurance brokers?
16 Evanston employers reported $4,838,839 in broker commissions and fees on their 2024 Form 5500 filings, 16 of them disclosing at least some compensation. Too few fully insured medical plans in Evanston reported premium to compute a stable commission rate; the Illinois median is 1.5% and the U.S. median is 3.8%. In dollars, the median Evanston employer that disclosed broker pay reported $120,885.
Which Evanston employers have the largest health plans?
By insurance premium reported for 2024, Northwestern University ($135M), Rotary International ($9.9M), National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States ($4.1M) lead. 16 Evanston employers are listed on this page; every employer in the record has its own page.
Which brokers and carriers are paid the most in Evanston?
By compensation reported by Evanston employers, the largest brokers are Custom Benefit Programs Inc ($1.9M, 1 plans), CBIZ ($432,036, 1 plans), Mercer ($420,952, 1 plans). By medical premium, the largest carriers are Health Care Service Corporation, Bluecross Blueshield of Illinois, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc..
Are Evanston employer health plans self-funded or fully insured?
Of 16 Evanston employer plans, 2 are fully insured, 4 are self-funded and 10 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 Illinois
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