Group Health Broker Benchmarks
Ancillary Benefits Offer and Participation Benchmarks (2026)
Dental, vision, life, and disability: how often employers offer each line, how they pay brokers relative to medical, and what full ancillary attach does to revenue per group. The attach-rate reference for a growing benefits book.
Ancillary is the quiet compounding lever in a benefits book. The lines are cheap relative to medical, sticky once installed, and typically pay the broker a higher commission percentage than the medical line itself. The benchmark questions for an agency: what share of employers offer each line, what does each pay, and what is a fully-attached group worth relative to medical-only.
Table 1: Employer offer rates by line
| Line | Offer rate (small → large firms) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dental | ~half → ~90%+ | The default second line |
| Vision | ~40% → ~80%+ | Usually bundled with dental sale |
| Group life | ~40% → ~85%+ | Often employer-paid basic + voluntary |
| Short-term disability | ~30% → ~70%+ | State-mandated in several states |
| Long-term disability | ~25% → ~65%+ | Underattached at small firms |
The pattern in every row: large firms offer, small firms underoffer. That gap is the small-group broker’s pipeline, because the premium cost of adding dental/vision/life to a small group is a fraction of the medical spend, and the employee-retention story sells itself in a tight labor market.
Table 2: Commission by ancillary line
| Line | Typical commission | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Dental | ~10% | Often graded, level at renewal |
| Vision | ~10% | Level |
| Group life | 10%–15%+ | Higher than medical |
| STD / LTD | 10%–15%+ | Strong margin add |
| Voluntary / worksite products | up to 40–50% first-year | Outlier high-commission category |
Table 3: Revenue per group, medical-only vs. attached
| Configuration | Annual revenue | vs. medical-only |
|---|---|---|
| Medical only | ~$12,000 | baseline |
| + dental & vision | ~$14,500–$16,000 | +20–33% |
| + life & disability | ~$16,500–$19,000 | +38–58% |
| + voluntary products | $18,000–$22,000+ | +50–80%+ |
Table 4: Why attached groups stay
| Mechanism | Effect |
|---|---|
| More lines = more switching cost | A five-line move is five enrollments, not one |
| Multiple carrier relationships via one broker | Broker becomes the system of record |
| Employee-visible benefits | HR resists disrupting used benefits |
| Advisory posture | Attached brokers churn far less (see persistency benchmark) |
Attach rate is the one metric that moves revenue and retention in the same direction. A fully-attached 50-life group is worth 50–80% more per year and measurably harder to lose. For an agency planning next year’s growth, raising attach across the existing book usually outyields the same effort spent on net-new logos.
Frequently asked questions
- What commission do brokers earn on dental and vision?
- Commonly around 10% of premium, per carrier compensation disclosures, versus 3–7% on medical. Life and disability run 10–15%+, and voluntary worksite products can pay 40–50% first-year.
- How much does ancillary attach add to revenue per group?
- On a typical 50-life group, full attach (dental, vision, life, disability, voluntary) lifts annual broker revenue 50–80% over medical-only.
- Which ancillary line is most underoffered?
- Long-term disability at small firms: only roughly a quarter of small employers offer it versus about two-thirds of large firms, making it the widest offer-rate gap in the ancillary set.
-
Sources & methodology
- Offer-rate patterns: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits (access to dental, vision, life, and disability by establishment size). Verify current-year rates at bls.gov/ebs.
- Commission levels: carrier ERISA 408(b)(2) compensation disclosures; Nava Benefits, Employee Benefits Broker Commissions, 2025.
- Revenue modeling (Table 3): built on the medical commission benchmark from our group health commissions report.
- Note on figures: offer rates are presented as small-to-large ranges consistent with BLS NCS patterns; consult the current NCS tables for exact single-year percentages. Table 3 is modeled, not surveyed.