Smarter
Health Plans
Smarter Health Insurance Strategies for Businesses
Your health plan isn’t broken, it’s just built to benefit everyone except you. We help employers take control with a clear blueprint that cuts waste and restores leverage.
Cut the Hidden Waste
Identify and eliminate the silent profit drain buried in your claims, fees, and contracts.
Align Your Vendors
Every partner serves your goals, not the carrier’s profit targets.
See Results Fast
Most clients see savings and improved benefits in the first 12 months.
BeneSmart
We rebuild your health plan supply chain, not just manage your renewal. Less waste. Better benefits.
Built for mid-sized industrial employers tired of rising premiums. We cut out misaligned vendors, reset the supply chain, and give you a proven roadmap to lower costs and control your plan.
In most instances, this creates room for improvements in employee benefit design while building smarter long-term healthcare strategies. Less waste, better benefits.
Our Vision
To transform health insurance strategies for mid-sized industrial businesses through our Cost-Containment Blueprint – reducing risk, eliminating overspend, and delivering top tier benefits that employees love.
Our Mission
To build the best blueprint for a scalable health plan solution.
How We Help
Strategy & Roadmap: We map out a multi-year benefits strategy tailored to your business goals so every decision you make moves you closer to lower costs and better outcomes.
Vendor Evaluation & Alignment: We evaluate your current vendors and potential new vendors, align incentives, and bring in partners that actually serve your bottom line, not theirs.
Funding & Plan Design: From level-funded to captive to self-funded, we design the right funding structure and benefit mix to maximize savings without shifting cost to employees.
Creative Cost Containment Solutions: From direct contracts and smarter specialty drug sourcing to reference-based pricing we help you use the tools that actually lower costs instead of the usual carrier games.
Ongoing Performance Reviews: Quarterly executive reviews keep your plan on track, your costs in check, and your leadership team aligned.
The Cost Crisis Starts in the Supply Chain
No one feels this more than manufacturers, construction firms, and transportation & logistics companies.
When your health plan supply chain is broken, premiums rise while carriers make more money, whether you do or not. For labor-intensive, margin-sensitive businesses, that’s not sustainable.
Especially when you’re integrating acquisitions, preparing for an ESOP, or trying to scale without blowing up costs.
Our Solutions
Cutting healthcare costs means reshaping how the whole plan works, not just negotiating premiums.
We create smarter plan designs, enable better care pathways, and implement a pharmacy strategy that protects your budget from runaway drug costs.
Our Blueprint takes the operational burden off your team, ensuring compliance and supporting your long-term benefits strategy.
BeneSmart helps employers in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, Tampa, Orlando, Fort Meyers, Naples, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Augusta and Milwaukee reduce healthcare costs through self-funded health plans, level-funded insurance strategies, independent benefits consulting, and transparent cost containment solutions.
The #1 Employee Benefits Consultant in St Louis
What our client’s say about us…
Dominic Bergfeld
Working with BeneSmart has been an incredible experience for Pittsburgh Pipe. Their team not only enhanced our benefit offerings but also helped us transition to a level funded health plan, resulting in significant cost savings. While we were initially hesitant to leave our long-time broker, BeneSmart's expertise, dedication, and personalized attention quickly proved our decision right. We highly recommend BeneSmart for any company looking to improve their employee benefits package and save money.
Stacy Muth
Ameristar Jet Charter's transition to BeneSmart marked a remarkable shift in our employee benefits experience. We moved away from a national brokerage offering little more than an annual renewal call and entered a world of personalized service and genuine care. BeneSmart's team provided comprehensive guidance and proactive support, making our benefits program feel like a true partnership. The difference is night and day, and we wholeheartedly recommend them.
Jessi Willhoite
BeneSmart transformed how we manage our health plan. Before Rich stepped in, three specialty drugs were draining over $35,000 a month. He helped us get control of our pharmacy spend and guided us through a smooth transition into a captive—something we’d wanted to do but never felt confident tackling.
Today, our plan is more predictable, more transparent, and finally aligned with our goals. If you want real cost containment and a partner who cuts through the noise, Rich is the one you call.
Latest Blog Posts
Last updated: August 17, 2026 · By Rich Westermayer, Founder, BeneSmart What You’ll Learn (TL;DR) Why the invoice is the smallest number. Base commission is the one...
For manufacturing and industrial employers in Milwaukee, employee health care is more than a benefits expense. It is a major operating cost that affects margins,...
Last updated: August 14, 2026 · By Rich Westermayer, Founder, BeneSmartWhat You’ll Learn (TL;DR)What a laser actually is, and why it can move six figures of risk...
Last updated: August 11, 2026 · By Rich Westermayer, Founder, BeneSmart Services What you'll learn What the first 90 days actually produce — and why clarity, not...
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN Why 5.5% of your covered members now drive roughly half your pharmacy spend, and why that share crossed a line in 2025 The reason your pharmacy report...
What you'll learn Why "we negotiated it down" almost always describes a quote comparison, not a market analysis, and why the difference is worth six figures at 100+...
Not sure what your broker actually earns — or which funding model fits? Book a free Find Your Fit call → Last updated: August 6, 2026 · By Rich Westermayer, Founder,...
For many employers in Austin, Texas, the question isn't simply "How do we get low-cost health insurance?" The better question is: "How do we reduce our total employee...
What You'll Learn Why "market leverage" almost never moves a 50–1000 life employer's rates and what actually does The three things a boutique benefits agency does...
What You'll Learn Why an ESOP legally changes nothing about your health plan and why that is the risk, not the reassurance The 5 benefits decisions that get made for...
How Naples, Florida Employers Are Reducing Group Health Insurance Costs by Hiring Expert Broker at BeneSmart For manufacturing companies, industrial businesses, and...
What You'll Learn Why "we're already self-funded" is a starting line, not a finish line How a carrier ASO arrangement keeps the carrier's admin, network, and owned PBM...
You flip over your insurance card looking for the claims address and you see it: "Administrative Services Only" or "ASO" printed in small text on the back. Most people...
For many mid-sized employers in Houston, Texas, group health insurance has become one of the most unpredictable expenses on the balance sheet. Every renewal season...
For many mid-sized businesses in Orlando, Florida, employee health insurance costs continue to rise year after year. Increasing premiums, higher claims utilization,...
Is Your Company Ready for Self-Funding? A Feasibility Guide Most employers who ask "should we self-fund?" skip the one step that actually answers the question: a self...
How a New PBM Cuts Employer Drug Costs: The 2026 Playbook Every employer I talk to wants to know where the "easy" savings are in their health plan. They expect me to...
The Best Alternative Funding Models for Group Health Benefits If you're asking what are the best alternative funding models for group health benefits in the US, you're...
The Healthcare Cost Problem Nobody Wants to Discuss Walk into almost any manufacturing facility or industrial operation in Dallas, Texas, and you'll hear discussions...
Exposing the Hidden Costs in Your Health Insurance Plan and How to Take Back Control As a business owner or HR leader, you've likely experienced the frustration of...
Not ready to talk? Start with the checklist.
The Mid-Year Health Plan Review Checklist shows you exactly what to inspect in your plan before renewal season — the same first pass we run for clients.
Sent straight to your inbox — no spam, ever.
Limited Availability
We only take on a select number of new Blueprint clients each quarter to maintain the level of strategy and support that makes this model work.
If you’re ready to run your health plan like a business, not a budget line, now’s the time to act.