The Curve Bender Award trophy on a wooden desk

And the award goes to...

The Cost Curve Bender of the Year

See the benefits consultant who stopped delivering bad news and started delivering proof.

The Curve Bender Award

Presented by

Honors

Benefits consultants who lead in healthcare cost containment for their clients

Finalists

Six benefits consultants from USI, Gallagher, OneDigital and Lockton

Selected by

Medefy's Customer Experience team, based on verified results

Healthcare cost containment is the job. All year.

Healthcare cost containment is the work every employer needs, and benefits consultants are the ones asked to deliver it. As employers move away from one-off point solutions, the consultants who show a real, ongoing cost containment strategy are the ones winning and keeping business.

Medefy works alongside benefits consultants, HR teams and members every day, so we can see who actually moves the number. The Cost Curve Bender Award recognizes them.

Office with a portrait of Kat Knapp on the wall

Meet the winner

Introducing the first Cost Curve Bender

Recognizing the benefits consultant who did the most to contain healthcare costs this year.

Kat Knapp

Senior Area Vice President, Gallagher

The benefits consultant who made the number go the other way.

The Curve Bender Award 2026 winner badge

Kat treats healthcare cost containment as year-round work, not a renewal-season conversation. She stays engaged well past renewal, pushing for the plan changes behind her clients' results year after year.

Across the four employer clients Kat has brought to Medefy, savings have averaged $772 per employee per month, with one client reaching $2,746. (Source: Medefy internal data.)

“Effective benefits consulting is about helping clients find the right balance between managing costs and providing benefits that support their people. That requires looking beyond the annual renewal and working with clients year-round to identify opportunities, challenge assumptions and build sustainable solutions. Helping my clients achieve an average of $772 in savings reflects what that long-term partnership can accomplish.”

Kat Knapp

Meet the Curve Benders

Honoring the consultants who did the most to contain healthcare costs for their clients.

Curve Bender Award 2026 finalist

Renae Desantis

USI

The benefits consultant who builds partnerships that reach across her entire team.

Curve Bender Award 2026 finalist

Annaliese Allen

Gallagher

The benefits consultant who brought her entire book of business onto Medefy.

Curve Bender Award 2026 finalist

Adam Ulicny

Gallagher

The benefits consultant who keeps his clients' benefits current all year, not just at renewal.

Curve Bender Award 2026 finalist

Alesia Coulter

Gallagher

The benefits consultant who equips her team to help clients get the most from their benefits.

Curve Bender Award 2026 finalist

Courtney Sutton

OneDigital

The benefits consultant who partnered with Medefy to help a school system manage rising costs.

Curve Bender Award 2026 finalist

Reid Baggett

Lockton

The benefits consultant expanding year-round cost containment to new employer clients.

Three behaviors that bend the curve

Innovation.

Pushes for a specific plan change, point solution or delivery model that produces a measurable reduction in what a client pays, or a documented gain in outcomes.

Partnership.

Stays engaged through rollout and ongoing optimization, not only at renewal, in ways Medefy's team can point to directly, like co-building a strategy or adopting a new capability early.

Tenacity.

Pushes an implementation past the point most would let it slide, whether that means a renewal fight, a slow rollout or a stakeholder who needs convincing, until the result lands.

Selected on results, not reputation

Identified by the people closest to the work.

Medefy's Customer Experience team works alongside benefits consultants and their clients every day. They select each recipient.

Backed by verifiable evidence.

Every selection is supported by specific, verifiable results. For the inaugural award, that evidence is measured savings across the recipient's clients on Medefy.

Measured against three behaviors.

Recipients show innovation, partnership and tenacity in how they deliver those results.

Up to

70%

member engagement

Up to

75%

plan utilization

$432

average savings when a member is engaged and guided to the best care option

Healthcare cost containment Across Medefy Clients

Medefy's claims-based analyses show that health plans perform measurably better when benefits consultants stay directly engaged through plan design, rollout and ongoing optimization.

Source: Medefy internal data.

Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

What is healthcare cost containment?

Healthcare cost containment is the practice of lowering what employers and members pay for care without reducing access or quality. For employers, it often depends on plan design, member engagement and a benefits consultant who stays involved all year, not only at renewal.

What is the Cost Curve Bender Award?

The Cost Curve Bender Award is Medefy's recognition for the benefits consultants in its network who do the most to contain healthcare costs for their clients. It rewards measurable cost containment and three behaviors that produce it: innovation, partnership and tenacity.

Who won the first Cost Curve Bender Award?

Kat Knapp, Senior Area Vice President at Gallagher, is the inaugural recipient of the Cost Curve Bender Award. Across the four employer clients she has brought to Medefy, savings have averaged $772 per employee per month, with one client reaching $2,746.

Who were the finalists?

The finalists for the first Cost Curve Bender Award are Renae Desantis (USI), Annaliese Allen, Adam Ulicny and Alesia Coulter (Gallagher), Courtney Sutton (OneDigital) and Reid Baggett (Lockton).

How are Cost Curve Bender Award recipients chosen?

Medefy's Customer Experience team selects each recipient based on specific, verifiable evidence. For the inaugural award, that evidence is measured savings across the recipient's clients on Medefy, along with demonstrated innovation, partnership and tenacity.

Can I nominate a benefits consultant?

The Cost Curve Bender Award does not accept outside nominations. Recipients are selected by Medefy's Customer Experience team based on verified results.

Who is eligible for the award?

Benefits consultants in Medefy's network whose clients use Medefy are eligible for the Cost Curve Bender Award.

How often is the Cost Curve Bender Award presented?

Medefy intends to present the Cost Curve Bender Award on an ongoing basis to the benefits consultants in its network who deliver innovation, partnership, tenacity and measurable cost containment.

How do benefits consultants drive healthcare cost containment?

Medefy's claims-based analyses show that health plans perform measurably better when the benefits consultant stays engaged through plan design, rollout and ongoing optimization, not only at renewal. The most effective consultants push for specific plan changes, stay involved all year and follow through until the result lands.

What is Medefy?

Medefy is a cost containment system that aligns benefit consultants, HR teams and members around the decisions that put a stop to runaway healthcare costs. It is trusted by more than 1,300 employers, serves 1.6 million lives and helps manage $16.3 billion in annual health spend.

Benefits consultant standing in a blue office

Bending the cost curve, all year long

Medefy will continue to recognize the benefit consultants in its network who deliver innovation, partnership, tenacity and the measurable healthcare cost containment that follows.