Methodology & sources

Source

Every figure traces to the DOL Form 5500 Datasets published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). We use the f_5500_2023_latest main filing file (plan year 2023). A Form 5500 is the annual ERISA report every large employee-benefit plan must file; it is public domain. To verify any record, search the original filing at DOL EFAST.

How we derive self-funded vs fully-insured

Form 5500 line 9 has two axes. Line 9a is the funding arrangement (where the money sits); line 9b is the benefit arrangement (how benefits are actually provided). The insured-vs-self-funded answer is line 9b. We read the filer's own boxes:

• Fully-insured — the insurance box is marked and the general-assets/trust boxes are not. An insurer bears the claims risk.
• Self-funded — the general-assets or trust box is marked and insurance is not. The sponsor bears the claims risk (stop-loss coverage, if any, is not shown on the form).
• Mixed — both insurance AND general-assets/trust are marked. Because one filing usually bundles several benefits (health, dental, life, disability), some are insured and others self-funded. The form does not say which.
• Not stated — no benefit-arrangement box was marked.

This describes the whole filing, not a single benefit. So a “mixed” or even “self-funded” filing does not by itself prove that the health benefit specifically is self-funded. For that, read the plan's Summary Plan Description (SPD) or the Schedule A attached to the filing. We never reclassify or guess beyond the boxes.

Scope (v1)

This release covers welfare plans — the plans that carry the self-funded/insured distinction (health, dental, vision, life, disability). Retirement/pension plans file the same form, but their funding concept is a pension trust, not insured-vs-self-funded, and are out of v1 scope. We now include every welfare filing in the dataset — all 84,234 — not a cut. Scope note: this is the DOL Form 5500 main form (filed by larger plans, generally 100+ participants); the smallest employers file the Short Form 5500-SF, a separate DOL dataset not ingested here.

What this is — and isn't

A Form 5500 is a recorded regulatory filing: what the employer reported. This atlas informs and compares that public record. It is not a rating of plan quality, not legal or benefits advice, and not a substitute for the SPD or for contacting the plan administrator. Figures reflect plan year 2023 as filed and may be out of date for the current plan year.

All figures are reproduced as filed and may include filer data-entry errors. The DOL does not correct the numbers an employer enters, and neither do we — for example, a participant count can be implausibly large if the filer mistyped it. Where a figure looks wrong, treat the original DOL EFAST filing as the authority and read the plan's SPD for the operative facts.

Data exported June 22, 2026 · 84,234 plans · filing year 2023.