How to Tell If Your Employee Benefits Advisor Is Overcharging You (Toronto 2026)

Most Toronto business owners pay their group benefits premium every month and barely think about it — until the renewal notice arrives with a 15%, 25%, or 40% increase and they have no idea how to push back.

The uncomfortable truth is that most of that increase is negotiable. The reason it does not get negotiated is not the insurance company — it is the advisor. Specifically, it is an advisor who is not doing their job at renewal time.

This post will show you the five signs your advisor is not working in your interests, explain how carrier benchmarking actually works , and tell you exactly what a proper renewal review should look like. If your current advisor is not doing these things, you are almost certainly overpaying.

The 5 Signs Your Benefits Advisor Is Not Shopping the Market

Sign 1: They Send You One Number at Renewal

A renewal notice from your insurance carrier is not a final price. It is an opening offer. Carriers know that most clients accept the first number because changing benefits providers feels complicated and disruptive. They price their opening renewal accordingly.

If your advisor sends you a renewal notice and asks you to sign and return it — without first going to market and requesting competing quotes — they are not benchmarking your plan. They are processing paperwork.

A proper renewal review means your advisor takes your current plan, your claims history, and your renewal number to at least three or four competing carriers and asks them what they would charge for equivalent coverage. That process typically takes two to three weeks and it is the only way to know whether the number your carrier proposed is fair.

Sign 2: They Cannot Tell You If Your Plan Is Experience-Rated or Pooled

This is the single most revealing question you can ask your benefits advisor, and most business owners have never asked it. The answer determines how exposed you are every time your employees submit claims.

An experience-rated plan prices your renewal based directly on your own group's claims history. One bad year — a serious illness, a disability claim, high dental usage — can produce a significant renewal spike even if you did nothing wrong as an employer. A pooled plan spreads that risk across a larger group of businesses, giving you more predictable pricing year to year.

Your advisor should know immediately which structure your plan uses, why that structure was chosen for your group size, and whether switching structures at renewal would produce better outcomes for your business.

Sign 3: Your Renewal Increases Have Consistently Outpaced Inflation

Between 2021 and 2025, the average group benefits renewal increase in Canada has ranged from 6% to 14% annually, driven primarily by rising drug costs, increased paramedical utilisation, and dental inflation. Those are real cost pressures that every carrier faces.

But if your renewal increases have been 20%, 30%, or higher — year after year — that is not just market movement. That is a plan that has not been optimised, benchmarked, or challenged at renewal. It means your advisor has been accepting the carrier's opening number every single year.

The benchmark question is simple: what would a competing carrier charge today for the same coverage? If your advisor has never answered that question with actual quotes, you do not know whether you are paying a fair market rate.

Sign 4: They Have Never Discussed Plan Design with You

Plan design — the specific structure of your coverage — directly determines the volume of claims your plan generates and therefore the cost of your renewal. Small decisions have large consequences over time.

For example: a dental plan that reimburses 100% of all procedures with no annual maximum will generate significantly higher claims than one that reimburses 80% with a $1,500 annual cap. A prescription drug plan with no generic substitution requirement will cost substantially more than one that requires dispensing the generic equivalent where available.

Your advisor should revisit your plan design at every renewal — not to reduce your employees' coverage, but to make sure you are not paying for coverage levels that are generating unnecessary claims without meaningful benefit to your team.

Sign 5: They Cannot Name the Carriers They Approached on Your Behalf

When you ask your advisor "which carriers did you go to at my last renewal?" the answer should be a list of company names — Sun Life, Manulife, Canada Life, Blue Cross, Desjardins, Empire Life, or others. It should not be a vague reference to "the market" or "a few options."

If your advisor cannot name the carriers they approached, they either did not approach multiple carriers, or they do not think you will ask. Either way, you are not getting a market benchmark — you are getting the easiest path to your signature on a renewal form.

How Carrier Benchmarking Actually Works

Carrier benchmarking is the process of taking your current plan specifications — the benefit levels, the coverage components, the employee and dependent counts, the claims history — and submitting them to competing carriers to request comparable quotes.

Here is what that process looks like when it is done properly:

What a Proper Renewal Review Should Look Like

A proper renewal review is not a phone call asking you to sign a form. It is a structured process that should begin no later than 90 days before your policy anniversary date. Here is what you should receive from your advisor:

The 10% Savings Guarantee — What It Is and How It Works

At Your Friend With Benefits, we offer a guarantee that most advisors would not make because most advisors do not go to market at every renewal: if a proper benchmarking review of your current plan does not produce a quote showing at least 10% in savings on your renewal, we pay you $2,500.

This guarantee exists because the market almost always produces a better number than the carrier's auto-renewal rate for clients who have not been benchmarked in the last 12 months. We are confident enough in that outcome to put our own money behind it.

Full guarantee conditions are available at yourfriendwithbenefits.ca/save-10--conditions.

What to Do Right Now If You Suspect You Are Overpaying

You do not need to wait for your next renewal date to find out whether you are overpaying. Here is what to do today:

• Find your current benefits plan documents and your most recent renewal notice. Note your policy anniversary date — that is your deadline.
• Ask your current advisor, in writing: "Which carriers did you approach at my last renewal and what did they quote?" If they cannot answer with specifics, you have your answer.
• Request your claims experience report. Every carrier is required to provide this to you upon request. If your advisor has never shared it with you, ask for it directly.
• Contact an independent advisor at least 90 days before your next renewal date. That gives enough time to run a proper market benchmark without any disruption to your employees' coverage.