QBE North America Releases New Podcast: Self-funded Employee Health Plans - An Effective and Efficient Way to Stabilize the Rising Cost of Healthcare

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- QBE North America has released a two-part podcast – Self-funded employee health plans: an effective and efficient way to stabilize the rising cost of healthcare.

For all employers – particularly small to medium-size private enterprises – one of the single largest costs to businesses is providing health care to their employees. In a new two-part podcast, Steve Gransbury, President, Accident & Health, QBE Specialty Insurance, provides risk managers, brokers and employers with a comprehensive overview of the self-funded health insurance market and discusses the options available for reducing and stabilizing healthcare costs. He also gives insight into medical stop loss captives, an alternative risk financing option that is gaining popularity, and shares important considerations and requirements.

"For many employers, self-funding is generally thought of as the most efficient form of alternative risk transfer in terms of providing insurance capacity, increasing control and reducing overall cost of risk," said Gransbury. "At no time has the use of self-insurance been more prevalent than when an employer is self-funding their employee healthcare coverage. This has proved to be one off the most effective ways of managing the cost of providing health insurance coverage for employees."

"Our team at QBE recognizes this, and we are responding with practical solutions for our clients. It is also the reason I have created this podcast, so that we can easily share our deep expertise and insight with risk managers, brokers and employers," continued Gransbury.

The two-part podcast is available on the QBE Videos and Podcasts page of QBE North America's website:

• Part One discusses how and why the rising cost of health insurance is driving increased interest among companies of all sizes in self-funding their health insurance plan. It also covers the importance of medical stop loss coverage for self-funded plans and describes the products and services QBE offers to help companies evaluate, structure, and manage their health insurance program.
• Part Two focuses on the types and benefits of medical stop loss captives, including single parent captives for large companies and group captives for mid-size and small companies. It reviews the factors companies should consider in deciding what type of captive structure is most appropriate and QBE's unique approach to helping companies design and manage captives along with the rest of a self-funded health insurance program.

"This podcast is another example of how we are leveraging our intellectual capital to provide thought leadership to our producers and policyholders," said Jeffrey S. Grange, President, Specialty Insurance, QBE North America. "Costs for healthcare delivery continue to inflate faster than the growth in GDP. This, coupled with accompanying social inflation caused by proliferating and complex regulation, poses everyday challenges to employers. The QBE A&H team provides a robust set of solutions to employers to tackle the challenges they face when providing healthcare to their employees."

The podcast follows a white paper on the subject published earlier this year -- Medical Stop Loss Captives: Issues & Answers.

QBE Specialty Insurance underwrites risks and provides exemplary coverage and services to support the specialized needs of customers across a wide variety of segments and industry sectors. These include Accident & Health, Aviation, Cyber, Healthcare, Inland Marine, Management Liability and Professional Lines, Media & Entertainment, Surety, Trade Credit and Transactional Liability for appointed retail and wholesale producers.

About QBE 
QBE North America is part of QBE Insurance Group Limited, one of the largest insurers and reinsurers worldwide. QBE NA reported Gross Written Premiums in 2015 of $4.6 billion. QBE Insurance Group's 2015 results can be found at www.qbena.com. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, QBE operates out of 37 countries around the globe, with a presence in every key insurance market. The North America division, headquartered in New York, conducts business through its property and casualty insurance subsidiaries. QBE insurance companies are rated "A" (Excellent) by A.M. Best and "A+" by Standard & Poor's. Additional information can be found at www.qbena.com, or follow QBE North America on Twitter.

SOURCE QBE

Related Links

http://www.qbena.com