Skip to main content
Back to Resources
Features

Comparing Current vs Renewal Plans

When you compare plans on a medical renewal, MonarkHQ shows the group's current in-force plans side by side with the renewal, prices both against the same census, and lets you shop rival carriers into the same view. This turns the comparison from "here are the renewal options" into "here is what changes, and what else is available."

This guide covers the renewal comparison view. Comparisons for new-business (non-renewal) quotes keep the simpler per-plan layout described in Building Proposals.

Opening the Comparison

  1. Open the Proposal and go to the Quotes tab
  2. Open the Medical instant quote for the renewal
  3. Click Compare

The renewal layout appears automatically once current plan rates are available for the group.

Where the "Current" Column Comes From

To show a real Current column, Monark needs to know two things: which catalog plans the group is on today, and what those plans cost.

  1. Current plans are matched from your census. Each distinct plan name in the census Medical Plan Name column is matched against the carrier catalog for the prior plan year. This happens automatically once the renewal quote is ready — there is no confirmation step to complete.
  2. A companion "current rates" quote is created. Monark quotes those matched plans at the prior year's effective date, so the Current column carries the same per-member rate detail as the renewal options rather than a flat estimate.

This companion quote is a snapshot — it is not refreshed when the renewal quote's rates are refreshed, because it represents what the group is paying today.

Verify the matched current plans before relying on the numbers. Where a carrier lists several catalog entries under one plan name, automatic matching picks the top-ranked candidate, which is not always the exact rating variant the group is on. A wrong match produces a Current baseline that looks authoritative but isn't. If the Current premium doesn't line up with what the Employer is actually paying, this is the first thing to check.

If the Current Column Doesn't Appear

Building the companion quote takes tens of seconds. The comparison opens with the renewal columns first, then fills in the Current columns as soon as the rates exist — you do not need to refresh the page or click anything.

If Current columns never appear, the usual causes are:

  • No plan names in the census Medical Plan Name column, so there is nothing to match
  • The group's current plan is no longer listed in the prior-year catalog (a delisted or discontinued plan)
  • The prior plan year's rates aren't available from the rating source

Without current rates, the comparison still works — you simply won't see the Current column, vs-current deltas, or the absorb-increase contribution scenarios.

Reading the Comparison

Summary Cards

Two cards sit above the table:

| Card | What it totals | | ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Current | The in-force plans — total premium, split between what the Employer pays and what employees pay. | | Renewal as-is | The mapped renewal options only, with a percentage badge showing the change against Current. Plans you add for shopping are not counted here. |

Both cards react to the contribution scenario you have selected, so switching scenarios updates the employer/employee split immediately.

The Option-Grouped Table

On renewals the table is organized by option, not by individual plan:

  • Each column is one carrier option — Current, Renewal, and any carrier you shop in.
  • Each premium row is one plan line — if the group offers three medical plans today, there are three rows, and each column shows that option's price for that line.
  • The Plan design section has line tabs. Because a column can cover several lines, you pick which line's benefits to display below. Values that differ from the current plan are highlighted so changes stand out.

Rows below the premiums include:

  • Employer pays and Employees pay, each with a vs-current delta
  • Network providers
  • Plan documents — labeled links to the SBC and drug formulary where the carrier provides them
  • Member breakdown — expandable per-member detail

Note:

A vs-current delta is shown only when every member counted in that column can be matched to a rate on their own current plan. If even one member can't be resolved, the delta is left blank rather than shown against an incomplete baseline. A missing delta means "can't be computed accurately," not "no change."

Pinned Columns and Scrolling

The Current and Renewal columns stay pinned to the left while you scroll through shopped alternatives, so the baseline is always visible.

On narrower screens, where the pinned columns would leave no room to scroll, pinning is dropped and the whole table scrolls normally. When you add a new column, the table scrolls it into view just past the pinned region.

Contribution Scenarios

The contribution panel on the comparison is tabbed — Current for what the Employer contributes today, Renewal for what you're modeling — with one-click scenario presets including Employer absorbs increase and Employee absorbs increase.

Every figure in the comparison reacts to the selected scenario. See Employer Contributions for the full detail on the tabs, the scenario pills, and what does and doesn't get saved.

Shopping Alternatives

Beyond the renewal, you can pull rival carriers into the same comparison.

Tier Tabs

A row of tabs scopes which alternatives are in play, relative to the group's current metal levels:

| Tab | Shows | | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | Same tier | Plans at the same metal level as the current plans | | Downgrade | Leaner metal levels — lower premium, higher member cost sharing | | Upgrade | Richer metal levels | | All tiers | No metal filter |

The filter is global — it applies relative to the group's current metals as a whole, not per individual plan line.

Smart Suggest

Smart Suggest fills the comparison for you. For each current plan line it picks the cheapest plan from a different carrier that satisfies the active tier tab, preferring a matching plan type (HMO, PPO, and so on), then stars the strongest overall result as the broker pick.

Switching to a tier tab runs Smart Suggest for that tier, and the first suggest runs automatically when you arrive at a renewal comparison that has no alternatives on it yet.

Add Carrier

To choose a specific plan rather than take the suggestion, click Add carrier. This opens the same full plan browser used when mapping renewal plans — with filters, a sortable table, and the plan detail sheet.

The browser opens scoped to the active tier and hides plans already on the comparison, but both are recoverable through the browser's own filters if you want to look wider.

Broker Pick and Persistence

  • Star any column to mark it as your broker pick.
  • Shopped alternatives and your broker pick are saved to the renewal option. They survive a reload, and they're there when you or a colleague reopen the saved comparison.
  • Remove an alternative with the × on its column header. Manual adds and removals are saved the same way suggestions are — Smart Suggest won't undo a column you deliberately added or removed.

Member Breakdown

Expand Member breakdown to see every census member as a row, with each option column showing that member's cost on their own plan line — total premium, Employer share, and payroll deduction under the active contribution scenario.

The breakdown reflects the scenario currently selected, which makes it a practical way to answer "what actually happens to this employee's paycheck?" before committing to a contribution strategy.

Best Practices

Confirm the Current Baseline First

Everything downstream — deltas, summary cards, absorb-increase scenarios — rests on the Current column being right. Check the Current total against the Employer's actual bill before you present anything.

Shop Before You Model Contributions

Add the alternatives you want to consider first, then work through contribution scenarios. The scenarios apply across all visible columns, so a complete column set means fewer passes.

Keep the Column Count Honest

A comparison with every rival carrier on it is harder to present than one with the renewal plus two or three genuine options. Use the broker pick star to signal your recommendation.

Next Steps