For Compensation and Benefits Analysts ·
What you'll accomplish
This guide gives you a repeatable process for turning 40–60 page insurance carrier renewal proposals into 2-page executive summaries in under 30 minutes. No more half-days spent reading, highlighting, and manually building comparison tables.
What you'll need
Gather the carrier proposals. For the best results with Claude:
What you should see: You have 2–3 carrier proposals ready, either as PDFs to upload or text to paste. Troubleshooting: If a carrier proposal is a scanned PDF (image, not text), you'll need to either manually copy the key tables or use Adobe Acrobat's OCR feature to convert it to searchable text first.
Go to claude.ai. Start a new conversation. This will be your "carrier analysis session," where you'll analyze all proposals in one conversation so Claude can compare them.
Start with context before the document:
I'm a benefits analyst evaluating carrier renewal proposals for our 2026 health insurance program. I'm going to share 2-3 carrier proposals with you. After reviewing each one, I'll ask you to compare them. For each proposal, please note:
1. Plan design changes from the current year (deductibles, copays, out-of-pocket maximums)
2. Premium rate changes (total premium and employer/employee split if shown)
3. Network changes (additions, removals, in/out-of-network impacts)
4. Key caveats or footnotes I should flag for leadership
5. Any unusual terms or conditions
Here is the first proposal — from [Carrier Name]:
Then upload the PDF or paste the text.
What you should see: Claude reads the document and provides a structured summary in the categories you listed.
After Claude summarizes the first proposal, continue:
Here is the second proposal — from [Carrier Name 2]:
[upload or paste]
Repeat for each proposal.
After all proposals are loaded:
Now create a comparison table showing all three carriers side by side. Columns should be: Plan Feature | Current Plan | [Carrier 1] | [Carrier 2] | [Carrier 3]
Include rows for: monthly premium (employee only), monthly premium (family), individual deductible, family deductible, primary care copay, specialist copay, out-of-pocket maximum (individual), out-of-pocket maximum (family), Rx copay (generic/brand/specialty), and mental health copay.
What you should see: A clean comparison table ready to paste into PowerPoint or a Word document.
Ask Claude for the leadership-ready summary:
Write a one-page executive summary for our HR Vice President comparing these three carrier options. Include:
- Which option offers the best value for employees (lowest total cost of care)
- Which option is most cost-effective for the employer
- Any significant trade-offs (network, plan design, premium)
- A recommended option with brief rationale
Do not recommend based on specific dollar amounts — frame as relative comparisons. Professional tone.
For a single renewal summary:
Summarize this health insurance renewal proposal. Highlight: plan design changes, premium rate change vs. current year, network changes, and any caveats I should review carefully. [Upload/paste proposal]
For a broker report summary:
Our broker sent a 30-page benefits market analysis. Summarize the key findings in 200 words: what's happening to health insurance premiums in our market, what trend is the broker recommending, and what are the 2-3 most important data points for our renewal decision?
For a dental/vision renewal:
Compare these two dental insurance renewal proposals. Focus on: premium change, annual maximum benefit, orthodontia coverage, out-of-network reimbursement, and any changes to covered services. Create a side-by-side table. [Upload/paste both]