How to read these records

Schedule A

A benefit plan that files a Form 5500 attaches one Schedule A per insurance contract. Each one names the carrier (with its NAIC code), the benefits it covers, the policy or contract year, the persons covered at the end of that year, and the brokers and agents the carrier paid.

The amounts

• Premiums or subscription charges paid to the carrier — reported for contracts that are not experience-rated, the usual case for small and mid-size groups.
• Earned premium and claims paid — reported instead for experience-rated contracts.
• Commissions and fees — what the carrier paid to brokers and agents for that contract.

Each figure belongs to one contract and one plan year. They are never added up here, and a figure does not say whether it is high or low.

Who is missing

• Plans with fewer than 100 participants that are fully insured or unfunded: they are generally exempt from filing.
• Self-funded benefits: only their insured parts, such as stop-loss, appear on a Schedule A.
• Government and church plans, which do not file a Form 5500.

What is not here

The names of individual insurance agents — shown as “(individual agent)” — and the signers, administrators and phone numbers of the Form 5500. Retirement plan contracts on Schedule A are left out. Filings for plan year 2024 only.