Five ways to fund employee coverage, and which one fits your situation
July 14, 2026

Most companies treat health benefits funding as a binary choice. The Funding Spectrum maps five distinct structures, from fully insured to true self-funded, showing exactly what changes at each position: your monthly payment, your access to claims data, your control over plan design and your budget predictability. This guide walks through all five positions.
What you get:
- A plain-language breakdown of each funding structure, from fully insured through level-funded, medical stop-loss captive, reference-based pricing and true ASO, including what each one costs, what data it gives you and what it requires of your team.
- The specific dollar figures that stay inside a carrier's model under a fully insured arrangement, and what those figures look like at your premium level.
- A "right for you / not right for you" assessment for each position, so you can locate where your workforce stability, cash flow and claims history actually point.
- Four diagnostic questions that help identify your realistic starting point on the spectrum before you have a conversation with anyone.
Request a HUB Funding Strategy Assessment to model your own numbers with a no-commitment analysis.
Additional resources
Get an instant read on your funding position and next steps.
See what pharmacy costs you control and what opens as funding structure changes.
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