MCMURRAY, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), www.markfarrah.com, presents an overview of high-level health benefit insights gleaned from MFA’s 5500 Employer Health Plus product. Large private-sector employers providing health and welfare benefit plans subject to ERISA are required to file the annual Form 5500 with the Internal Revenue Service. Data on Form 5500 acts as a primary source of employer information regarding health and welfare benefits, as well as pension plans. Observations obtained from 5500 Employer Health Plus are based on more than 94,000 employers that indicated they had active health benefit contracts in their most recent filings.
- Per the most recent Form 5500 filings, private-sector employers reported 95 million (M) plan participants across the spectrum of all health benefit contracts.
- Amazon surpassed the NEA (National Education Association) Retiree Health Plan as the leader for highest number of welfare plan participants with nearly 2.8M participants.
- Metropolitan Group currently holds the top rank for largest insurer group by insured with over 6.1M insured per Schedule A analysis for benefit contract types.
- UnitedHealth’s plans received over $2.3 billion (B) in compensation for providing third party administrative services pertaining to health and welfare benefit contracts with private sector employers, per analysis of Schedule C details on fees associated with self-funded plans exceeding $5,000.
- Brokers and agents received over $3.4B in compensation – $2.5B in commissions and $845M in fees – for assisting with sales of various health and welfare benefit products, inclusive of health, HMO, and PPO contracts.
About 5500 Employer Health Plus
MFA’s 5500 Employer Health Plus has been designed to simplify the analysis of employer health & welfare benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability and other benefits. This tool uniquely focuses on health & ancillary benefits purchased by private sector employers and the relationships employers have with contracted insurers, administrators and brokers. The user interface allows for both detailed and summary level data retrieval. Data sources include Form 5500 filings and related schedules for plans that have the indication of providing health & welfare benefits.
To read for FREE the full text of “Private Sector Health Insurance Business: 2025 Year-End Refresh“, visit the Analysis Briefs library on Mark Farrah Associates’ website.
About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)
MFA is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Committed to simplifying analysis of health insurance business, our products include: Health Coverage Portal™, Medicare Business Online™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, County Health Coverage™, Health Plans USA™ and 5500 Employer Health Plus. Follow us on LinkedIn!
Also, for the latest insights about health plan enrollment trends and financial performance, visit the FREE MFA Healthcare Business Strategy Briefs on the MFA website.
Contacts
Mark Farrah Associates
Ann Marie Wolfe, [email protected]

