Running Out of Solutions

[stuy119]

And no, the carriers are not "socking it to them" whether profitable or not.

This is highly debatable.

I had 4 clients who renewed this year (in April), and none of them have anyone in their group who has hit the deductible limit on their HSA. Group sizes are 10, 4, 18, and 14. This is year 4 with all of these groups, and none of them have had a member hit the deductible in any of those years. Previous years have seen negative numbers (upon occasion) at renewal time.

I understand that they are pooling with other groups, but for these groups (specifically) to be penalized for their proactive measures is ridiculous.

 

[somarco]

I had 4 clients who renewed this year (in April), and none of them have anyone in their group who has hit the deductible limit on their HSA. Group sizes are 10, 4, 18, and 14.

Those groups are fully pooled. Rates are generally not influenced by losses.

At best (or worst, depending on your perspective) maybe 5% or 10% of the claim experience might influence the tier.

Depending on the carrier, there will be somewhere between 4 and 10 tiers where pooled cases can land. They can move from a lower tier (good cumulative experience) to a higher tier with one or more "bad" years in succession. The renewal action will be based on overall trend (as expected by the carrier for the block) plus a tier adjustment.

Your rep should be able to explain this as it applies to your groups.

Or you can go on believing the carriers are out to get you and your clients.

 

[mybeloveds]

wow i did not know that - thanx

 

[ABC]

I am also seeing a 18% medical trend a year. There is no way to get rate relief from trend.

If groups are getting single digit rate increases today its can only be for a couple of reasons.
1. The groups risk factor is already max out.
2. The group had zero claims and I mean dam near zero
3. The group is self funded a
4. The group is renewalin on a local HMO

I am very interested in any other reason why a group gets a single digit rate increase.

You sure about that, Clark?

Trend is sitting at around 1.5% monthly increase, or 18% annually. When you also factor in risk changes and census changes, you're looking double digits - minimum.

This is my 4th year managing renewals, and the first year I've had to deal with double-digit increases. In some cases, this is the first year that I've had increases with my groups during that time period.

Carriers are "socking it to 'em" whether or not they are profitable clients or not.

 

[scagnt83]

I know of more and more small business owners (2-10 person groups) who are just giving their employees a set monthly bonus to help subsidize the cost of individual health insurance.
While it does limit their recruiting when hiring someone (a prospect with preexising diseases would be very likely to go with an employer with group health); with the job market being flooded with applicants right now, its not noticeably affecting their recruiting efforts.
And more importantly for them its dramatically reducing the overhead. But this solution is very dependent on the business and its current employees personal situations.
But I know of 4 different businesses that have switched to this starting this year...