About this event
The fully-insured market shifted hard in 2025, and the 2026 plan year brings a new cohort of options worth knowing about. This 45-minute session walks through the top fully-insured plans US employers should be evaluating for 2026 — what's new, what's improved, and what's quietly moved backwards.
Tessa Vargas and Patrick Reyes break down the field through three lenses: cost predictability, member experience, and broker workflow. Bring questions for the live Q&A at minute 35.
What you’ll learn
- The 2026 fully-insured shortlist
The five plans worth seriously evaluating for the 2026 cycle, with the trade-offs that matter for mid-market employers. - What's actually new vs. rebranded
Cutting through 2026 'innovation' announcements to identify which structural improvements are real. - Cost predictability across the field
How each shortlisted plan handles claims volatility, stop-loss, and premium increase patterns. - Member experience as a differentiator
Where plans are competing on member experience — and where it's mostly marketing copy.
Agenda
⌃8:30 AM
Registration & Breakfast
Networking with attendees and event hosts.
9:30 AM
Opening Keynote
Healthcare consumerism: where we are and where we are going.
11:00 AM
Breakout Sessions
Cost strategy, mental health, dependent coverage, and plan design.
1:00 PM
Panel Discussion
A practical discussion with benefits and finance leaders.
Speakers
Tessa Vargas
Tessa leads Sidecar's ICHRA practice, working with brokers across 18 states on compliance and plan design. Five years on the regulatory side before joining Sidecar.
Patrick Reyes
Patrick oversees Sidecar Health's go-to-market strategy and has spent two decades building broker and employer channels at Aetna, Oscar Health, and Collective Health.