Did you know THAT was hidden in your renewal?

As businesses continue to track more details about customers, products, and sales, it only makes sense that we would begin have more access to these kinds of details about one of the most expensive products we all buy – health insurance.

It has been said time and time again, if you are buying something that is going to cost you so much money, why would you not treat it the same way you do buying a car or anything else expensive? The reality is that most of us either 1) don’t know where to begin or 2) don’t want to deal with it. In such a capital-draining industry, most buyers don’t know the details of how rates are created and why they are stuck with increases year after year. This is usually explained as “Well, you know you had those couple of big claims so it just is what it is.” Why is that an acceptable answer? It’s not.

Did you know that if you are an employer with over 100 employees OR you are self-insured, you have access to a lot more data that can actually help you and your employees’ financial stresses? This does not refer to your large claims report, large Rx spending, or any of these types of reports. Employers have pushed for long enough that insurance companies are “kind enough” to give those to you upon request. We are referring to reports that dig deep into where every penny of your premium is calculated and how your stop loss carrier determines your risk year after year.

With this data, a new word that has not been positively attributed to insurance companies comes to light: accountability. Your company goes through a process called underwriting each year. A couple of people at these insurance companies have been trained for years to plug your information into a formula, make a couple of subjective decisions and magically you end up with a rate (usually an increase if you are like most other folks right now). Some brokers and insurance companies would like for you to believe that this is a science or just math. Frankly, that is incorrect. It is more of an art. How does someone keep an artist accountable? They have to be able to speak the same language.

We are digging into more detail about underwriting in Middle Tennessee on Wednesday, April 26^th. Ed Mitro, our Regional Director of Underwriting, who has been an underwriter for some of the largest insurance companies, will be teaching the language so that you, as the employer, can keep your broker and your insurance carrier accountable. CLICK HERE to register for the seminar.