At some point, someone told you your company was too small to have real options. Too small to self-fund. Claims too ugly. Nothing to do but take the increase. And you believed them – why wouldn’t you? They were the experts.
Nobody mentioned that the line works a lot better for them than it does for you.
The lie has a business model
An advisor who can only sell four carriers’ products will discover, reliably, that every problem has a four-carrier solution. “You’re too small” is inventory talking, not analysis. (They are describing their shelf. Not your company.)
What companies your size actually do
Employers with as few as 100 employees restructure their funding, join captives (groups of employers pooling risk together), contract directly with providers, and fix their pharmacy pricing. Every day, all over the country. None of this is exotic. The big-box counter just doesn’t stock it.
And the claims objection – “your claims are too bad” – gets the same answer from me every time: that is our specialty. Ugly claims are exactly what these structures were built for.
The tell
When an advisor says “you have no options,” they have just told you something useful – about themselves. The options were there the whole time. Nobody showed them to you because the person across the table couldn’t sell them.
Most executives who finally dig in don’t get angry about the money first. They get angry that nobody ever told them.
What has your advisor never shown you? Ask me what employers your size are actually doing.
