4 Questions Brokers Should Ask During Renewal Season

Most renewal conversations start the same way: What’s your claims experience? What’s your budget for premium increases? Are you happy with your carriers and vendors?

While these questions matter, they focus on what has already happened, leaving you to negotiate against last year’s data instead of preparing your clients for next year’s risks.

Instead, consider the four questions below and discover how they can change the trajectory of your renewal conversations.

1. Ask About Future GLP-1 & Specialty Drug Exposure

"What's your GLP-1 and specialty drug exposure going to look like in 18 months?"

GLP-1 and specialty drug spending is the single biggest cost driver in renewals right now, with nearly 8 in 10 companies saying these medications are driving increases in healthcare expenses.

As a result, 14% of employers are expected to drop GLP-1 coverage in 2027. While that may reduce prescription costs, it won’t address the root cause of why employees may be turning to these medications in the first place.

Understanding the factors driving these cost increases, including chronic health conditions, lifestyle factors, and gaps in support, opens the door to conversations about preventive wellness. Solutions such as nutrition coaching that complements GLP-1 use can help reduce reliance on expensive interventions before they’re needed, rather than restricting access after the fact.

2. Ask If Benefits Are a Reason to Stay (or Leave)

"If your best employee got a competing offer tomorrow, would your benefits be a reason for them to stay or leave?"

This question reframes benefits from a cost conversation into a retention discussion, forcing clients to evaluate their benefits plan the same way their top employees do.

Benefits have become an increasingly important factor in how employees evaluate opportunities, particularly in a competitive labor market. Take GLP-1 coverage, for example: 29% of employees say they’d switch jobs to gain access to GLP-1 coverage.

A benefits plan can check a client’s every compliance and budget box, yet still fail one important test: Would it actually keep their best people from walking away?

3. Ask What Would Make the Admin's Job Easier

"Who on your team is administering this plan, and what would make their job easier?"

When evaluating a wellness program, most conversations focus on two audiences: employees and company leadership. But there’s a third stakeholder group that is often overlooked: the HR team responsible for administering the plan.

Thirty-five percent of HR leaders believe they’re spending too much time on administrative work, with one-third logging seven to ten hours per week on payroll and benefits management alone.

Where would HR leaders say that time would go instead? Sixty percent would spend it talking directly with employees about their benefits and HR needs, while at least half point to more time on relationship-building, benefits education, and more personalized support.

4. Ask What They'd Change Without Fear of Disruption

"What would you do differently if you weren't afraid of disrupting things?"

Inertia is the default answer in most renewals. Clients keep the same wellness strategy because change feels risky. But sometimes a renewal cycle of adjustment is a small price to pay for replacing an ineffective strategy nobody has questioned in years.

Consolidating scattered solutions into one connected platform can cut admin friction without cutting benefits. A telehealth line nobody uses isn’t proof that employees don’t want virtual care; it’s often proof the current option is the wrong fit. Even refreshing a stale rewards program nobody’s touched in years with something new and flexible can move engagement more than clients expect.

The most impactful renewal opportunities are often hidden in the changes clients have wanted to make but haven’t felt comfortable exploring.

Change the Renewal Conversation

Renewal season is one of the few times brokers have an opportunity to shape strategy rather than simply evaluate results. Asking better questions can uncover future risks, retention challenges, and operational barriers that claims reports alone can’t reveal.

Here at HUSK, we can help you make these renewal conversations easier. Through integrated wellness, fitness, nutrition, rewards, and engagement solutions, we help wellness brokers offer clients more than a renewal strategy. We help them build a healthier, more engaged workforce.