SIIA Counters Criticisms of Self-Insured Group Health Plans & Stop-Loss Insurance

The Self-Insurance Institute of America, Inc. (SIIA) today announced the release of a new white paper, entitled Self-Insured Group Health Plans, Stop-Loss Insurance & Adverse Selection, which has been published to correct inaccurate information state and federal policy-makers have been provided about how the self-insurance marketplace operates.

Over the past year, federal regulators from the IRS, HHS and DOL have all expressed concerns that smaller employers rely on stop-loss insurance with “low” attachment points to self-insure in order to escape various state and federal regulatory requirements. The criticism continues that these represent “sham” self-insured plans and that a growing number of such plans will contribute to adverse selection in the group health insurance marketplace.

Most recently, a workgroup of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has picked up on this misinformation in the course of considering a proposal to update its Stop-Loss Model Act.

“Unfortunately there are many so-called health care system experts who promote analysis that is simply wrong,” said SIIA Chief Operating Officer Mike Ferguson. “With this new publication we look forward to correcting the public record so that policy-makers can properly evaluate legislative/regulatory proposals related to self-insured group health plans.”

The full text of the white paper can be downloaded by clicking here.

SIIA is a national trade association that represents the business interests of companies involved in the self-insurance/alternative risk transfer marketplace.