At many small businesses in America, health insurance costs are second only to payroll.

As a longtime agency owner, I’ve gone through all the typical frustrations of employee healthcare planning. Most providers make it seem like business owners have little control over benefits packages: We can either sit tight and hope our premiums don’t spike every year, or we can look for another provider with nearly identical prices and policies.

In this article I contributed to Score.org, I provide tips that will not make healthcare cheap for your small business, but they will help you trim the fat without sacrificing your employees’ well-being. Work with your agent and fiduciary partner to discover more options that could help you save.