Several years ago Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard faced a 26 percent jump in its health insurance premiums. Renewals had become “a roller-coaster ride,” says office manager Karen Sargent. “You’d never know what you’d get.”
The firm now self-insures through the North Carolina Bar Association Health Benefit Trust. “We took a baby step,” Sargent says, adding that self-insuring through a larger group—Brooks Pierce has about 100 attorneys—helps level spikes in claims utilization. And over the past four years, premiums have risen just 1.8 percent overall, she says.
