JS Benefits Group
JS Benefits Group is an employee benefits and HR consulting firm based in Newtown, Pennsylvania, helping employers with benefits strategy, group health insurance, cost containment, compliance, employee advocacy, and HR solutions. The firm serves businesses throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Beyond
The Award Interview
Following their award, we invited JS Benefits Group to reflect on the recognition and the work behind it.
What does your business do, in your own words?
JS Benefits Group is an employee benefits and HR consulting firm serving employers across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and New York.
We help small and mid-sized businesses control group health insurance costs and build benefits their employees actually value. That includes benchmarking, plan design, level-funded and self-funded health plans, group captives, pharmacy (PBM) strategy, ACA and HR compliance, and year-round employee support.
In short, we help employers understand what is driving their healthcare costs and what they can do about it, instead of simply accepting the renewal.
What does this award mean to you?
Receiving the Trusted Business Award is an honor, and it belongs to our entire team.
For more than 30 + years, JS Benefits Group has been built on long-term relationships. We serve more than 1200 employers, and nearly all of them stay with us year after year. Employee benefits are one of the largest investments an employer makes and one of the most personal parts of an employee's financial security. This recognition tells me that the trust our clients place in us is showing up in the work.
What is the biggest challenge you have overcome?
For decades, small and mid-sized employers were taught that health insurance works one way: the renewal arrives, the broker negotiates the increase down a little, and the company signs. When I started pushing employers to question that, to look at their claims data, benchmark their plan and consider level-funded or self-funded options, many were skeptical. It was unfamiliar, and changing something that big feels risky.
What changed minds wasn't a sales pitch. It was education and results. We started showing employers their own numbers side by side, explaining the trade-offs honestly, including when a change wasn't right for them, and staying with them through the first year.
Today, employers come to us asking those questions themselves. That shift, from convincing people to helping people who already want answers, is the challenge I'm proudest of overcoming.
What do your customers tell you they value most?
Our clients tell us they value finally understanding why their health insurance costs are what they are.
One employer came to us after their previous broker negotiated a 12% renewal increase down to 9% and called it a win. No one had asked whether the plan itself still made sense. We reviewed their claims data, benchmarked them against similar employers and moved them to a level-funded health plan, which lowered their costs from their current rates in year one.
They also value that we stay involved all year, answering employee questions, handling compliance and planning ahead, instead of only showing up when the renewal arrives.
What makes your approach different?
Most employers have never asked whether their health plan still fits their business. We start there.
Before we recommend anything, we benchmark the plan against similar employers, identify what is actually driving costs and evaluate whether a different funding structure (fully insured, level-funded, self-funded or a group captive) would serve them better. Then we look at pharmacy and PBM costs, plan design, HR compliance and how employees actually use their benefits.
Large corporations have used these strategies for decades. Our job is to bring that same level of analysis to small and mid-sized employers.
What advice would you give someone starting out in your field?
Learn the numbers, but never forget there are people behind every plan. Every line on a renewal spreadsheet is someone's prescription, someone's surgery or someone's decision about whether to stay with their employer.
Clients don't need more complexity. Your value is making complicated things clear. If a business owner can't explain their plan back to you after a meeting, you haven't done your job yet.
And play the long game. Your reputation is built through every promise you keep and every problem you solve, not any single sale. That belief is why we invest so much in training the next generation of benefits advisors.
Who or what got you started?
Early in my career, I watched a business owner nearly drop health coverage for 40 employees because no one had shown him an alternative to his renewal.
I realized that most employers were making one of their biggest financial decisions with very little information, and no one was showing them their options. I founded JS Benefits Group to change that.
More than 30 + years later, that is still how we start every client relationship: with the data and the right questions, not the renewal.
What is next for the business?
Three areas are especially important to us.
First, alternative funding. Level-funded, self-funded and captive health plans are no longer strategies reserved exclusively for very large companies. We are helping more mid-sized employers understand these options and determine whether they make sense for their organizations.
Second, data and technology. We developed a free Benefits Benchmark Calculator that allows employers to compare their benefits costs against relevant benchmarks, and we're continuing to expand our use of claims analytics and technology.
Third, education. Through my Forbes Business Council articles, Executive Leaders Radio, which I co-host, and our video content, we're working to give employers the information they need to ask better questions.
We're also continuing to grow our team and expand our ability to serve employers throughout PA, NJ, DE, NY & MD.
Is a level-funded or self-funded health plan right for a small business?
For many small and mid-sized businesses, it is worth evaluating, and most have never been shown the option.
With a traditional fully insured plan, you pay a fixed premium and the insurance company keeps whatever isn't spent on claims. With a level-funded plan, you still pay a predictable monthly amount, but you get access to your claims data, and in a good year you may receive some of the unused claims money back. Stop-loss insurance protects you from large, unexpected claims.
It isn't right for every company. It depends on your workforce, your claims history and how much predictability you need. That is why we run the numbers side by side before recommending anything. Large employers have used these strategies for decades; mid-sized employers deserve the same analysis.
What should an employer do if their health insurance renewal comes in high?
Don't sign it yet, and don't treat negotiating the increase down as the only option.
First, find out what is driving the number: large claims, prescription drugs, demographics or simply the carrier's pricing. Second, benchmark your plan against similar employers to see whether you are overpaying. Third, ask whether a different funding structure, such as level funding, would give you more control.
The best time to start this review is six to nine months before renewal, but even 60 days out there are usually more options than employers realize.
Any employer can check how their plan compares using the free Benchmark Tool on our website, jsbenefitsgroup.com, or call us at (877) 355-6070 for a free second opinion on your renewal.
From the Trusted Business Awards Winner Spotlight series. Responses are the winner's and are reviewed by our team before publication.