How Unum’s Stop-Loss Chief Sees the Gameboard

Unum put the group benefits market in a new light last week by announcing that it will start selling medical stop-loss insurance to employers with self-insured health plans sometime this summer.

(Related: Unum Enters Health Stop-Loss Market)

The Chattanooga, Tennessee, carrier is best known as a seller of just about every group benefit except for major medical insurance. Stop-loss insurance is closer to the employer’s core major medical plan.

Many large employers and some small employers self-insure to avoid state health insurance mandates. The sponsors often use stop-loss insurance, or insurance for insurance plans, to protect the self-insured plans against catastrophic losses.

Why does Unum want to get involved with employers’ health plans, given all of the turmoil in commercial health insurance?

Rich Williams, general manager of Unum Stop Loss, talked a little about the company’s thinking in a recent email interview. Here’s a look at some of what Williams said.

THINKADVISOR: Why is Unum getting involved with employers’ health plans?

RICH WILLIAMS: The most prominent benefits challenge employers face is the rising cost of health care…. By entering the stop-loss market, Unum can broaden the scope of the financial protection benefits we provide and increase the value we bring to employers. It also enables us to provide more solutions to  brokers and employers.

Understanding health care decisions an employer is making puts us in an excellent position to design not only the right stop-loss offer, but also to be consultative with our other products, to design plans that fit together to protect employees.