LBMC keeps your team on Blue Cross, through its large-group plan, for less than renewing.
Prepared for Standard Tools and Equipment by Beverly Griffin and Caleb Sherrill, Contemporary Benefits Advisors
Blue Cross renewal, 12/1/2026
$153,290
a year, up 16.4%
Where you are today
Your Blue Cross renewal increased
Same plan and the same 13 people, but Blue Cross raised the premium 16.4%. Employee-only coverage goes from $726.67 to $845.97 a month, and family coverage from $2,252.68 to $2,622.51.
Medical premium per year
Today$131,673 $10,972.72 a month
Renewal, 12/1/2026$153,290 $12,774.15 a month
+16.4%
Side by side · Medical
Your plan next to LBMC’s
PPO 6 saves the most: 20% after the deductible instead of 40%, lower office copays and a lower out-of-pocket max, with a higher deductible. The switch runs from the plan closest to today’s deductible on the left to PPO 6 on the right. The two HDHP plans have no copays; doctor visits and prescriptions go toward the deductible first.
MetLife’s mid plan through LBMC covers the same 100 / 80 / 50 as Humana, doubles the yearly max from $1,000 to $2,000, and costs less at every level.
Dental
TodayHumanaDental Traditional Preferred
Richer, costs lessMetLife MidThrough LBMC
DeductibleSingle
$50
$50
Cleanings and checkups
100%
100%
Fillings and extractions
80%
80%
Crowns, bridges, dentures
50%
50%
Yearly max
$1,000
$2,000
OrthodontiaChildren
$1,000 lifetime
$1,500 lifetime
Monthly premium
Employee only16 enrolled
$36.80
$28.62$8.18 less
Employee + children2 enrolled
$100.09
$61.19$38.90 less
Family2 enrolled
$138.14
$135.89$2.25 less
A year20 enrolled
$12,783
$10,225$2,558 less
Same 20 people on dental, at today’s coverage levels. Standard Tools keeps paying 75% of employee-only dental. Dental and vision are in the totals under All in.
Lowest-cost dental$23.28 a monthMetLife Low, employee only: the same $1,000 yearly max as today.
Life and disability$10,000 life includedCompany-paid life and AD&D for every employee is in LBMC’s fee. Short- and long-term disability are being priced from your salary list.
Vision
Employees pay for vision today. Both VSP plans through LBMC raise the frame and contact allowances and lower the lens copay, for a little more a month. VSP Low gives new frames every other year instead of every year; VSP High keeps them every year.
Vision
TodayHumanaVision 130, EyeMed network
Closest priceVSP LowThrough LBMC
RicherVSP HighThrough LBMC
Network
EyeMed
VSP or Superior
VSP or Superior
Eye exam
$10
$10
$10
Glasses lensesSingle, bifocal, trifocal
$15
$10
$10
Frames
$130 every 12 months
$150 every 24 months
$225 every 12 months
ContactsInstead of glasses
$130
Up to $150
Up to $225
Monthly premium
Employee only13 enrolled
$6.06
$6.96$0.90 more
$9.30$3.24 more
Employee + children2 enrolled
$11.51
$13.26$1.75 more
$17.72$6.21 more
Family3 enrolled
$18.09
$21.00$2.91 more
$28.10$10.01 more
A year18 enrolled
$1,873
$2,160$287 more
$2,888$1,015 more
Green better than todayRed worse than today
Same 18 people on vision, at today’s levels. Employees pay all of it, as today. All in uses VSP Low.
How LBMC works
You run the company. LBMC handles the paperwork.
LBMC Employment Partners becomes the employer on paper for payroll, taxes and benefits. That puts your team inside one large group, priced at large-group rates instead of as a 21-person company. You keep running Standard Tools.
Stays the same
Yours
You run the company: hiring, pay, schedules, your customers and how the work gets done.
Still a Blue Cross card: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee uses the national Blue Cross network, so your doctors in the Triad should stay in network.
A January 1 renewal, the date you’ve wanted.
Changes
LBMC
Payroll runs through LBMC. W-2s show LBMC.
One invoice for payroll, payroll taxes and benefits.
Medical moves to LBMC’s Blue Cross plan, with lower coinsurance and copays and a higher deductible.
A dedicated HR partner and payroll specialist come with the fee, plus employment practices liability (EPLI), a cyber policy and $10,000 of company-paid life insurance for every employee.
LBMC’s fee$26,943 a year$100 per employee a month for 21 employees, plus EPLI, cyber and the company-paid life. One-time $2,000 setup.
Renewal dateJanuary 1LBMC renews every January 1. Start 1/1/2027 and your first renewal with LBMC is January 1, 2028.
Start date1/1/2027Renew Blue Cross for December, then coverage and payroll on LBMC start January 1.
CBA stays your team and holds LBMC accountable.
All in
What it costs for the first year
Medical, dental and vision, plus LBMC’s fee, which replaces what you pay today for payroll and admin. Type in what you pay today and the totals update.
What do you pay today for payroll and admin?
Per
LBMC plan
First 12 months
Renewal 12/1/26Renew today’s plansBlue Cross NC and Humana
LBMCBlue Cross of Tennessee
Not in these totals: LBMC’s one-time $2,000 setup fee. Workers’ comp is quoted separately.
Who saves
Standard Tools and each employee
Today Standard Tools pays 75% of each employee’s own medical and dental premium, and none of the cost to add a spouse or children. Vision is employee paid. The renewal always uses that split. Move the sliders to set what Standard Tools would pay for medical on LBMC; dental and vision stay at today’s split.
LBMC plan
What does Standard Tools pay toward medical today?
Filled in from what Standard Tools pays today.
0%25%50%75%100%
0%25%50%75%100%
Paychecks
Standard Tools savesa year, after LBMC’s fee
Employees savea year, their share of the premium
Together
What employees pay for medical, per paycheck
Coverage
TodayBlue Cross renewal, today’s split
LBMC
ChangePer paycheck
Medical only. Blue Cross and LBMC both charge one rate per coverage level. Waive medical today: 8 of 21 employees.
Your questions
What you asked us
1Keeping your HRA
“Can the PEO do our HRA, or do we keep working with the third party?”
PEOs don’t usually run an HRA themselves. The usual setup is that you keep it: Standard Tools stays the sponsor, your current administrator keeps paying claims, and it pays toward the LBMC plan’s deductible the same way it does today.
An HRA works alongside any of these plans. On the two HDHP plans, an HRA that pays the deductible means employees can’t also put money in an HSA. You don’t have an HSA today, so nothing is lost.
One thing to decide: the deductible on PPO 6 is $6,350 instead of $2,500, so choose how much of it the HRA should cover. Tell us how your HRA pays today and we’ll show what that means under each plan.
We’ve asked LBMC to confirm in writing.
2Workers’ comp
“Can you look at our workers’ comp too?”
Yes. LBMC’s workers’ comp is a guaranteed-cost Zurich program, billed monthly with payroll instead of a big upfront premium.
LBMC manages the claims, reviews your job codes and helps with safety and return to work.
To price it we need your declarations page (or your class codes and payroll by code) and loss runs from your current carrier.
Questions about any of this? Call either of us.
We’ll send you LBMC’s final numbers as soon as they’re in.
