WELLESLEY, MA, April 08, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - The U.S. business
group of Sun Life Financial hosted its third Sun Life Wake Up
Summit to shed light on important and complex issues surrounding
health care reform. The Summit gave perspectives on how employers
are taking control of their health care benefits and analyzing
solutions like self-insurance.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150408/197261)
Keynote speakers—Dr. Jonathan
Gruber, MIT economist and
Affordable Care Act expert, and Michael
Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies at the Cato
Institute—shared opposing viewpoints on the current state of reform
and tackled questions about the implications of the King v. Burwell
Supreme Court case and the impending Cadillac tax. Following their
session, two panels explored the pros and cons of self-insurance
and shared experiences and pragmatic advice for those considering
self-insurance.
Paul Fronstin, Director of the
Health Research and Education Program at the Employee Benefit
Research Institute, pointed to a number of advantages companies
have when they self-insure, including uniformity of benefits across
states and access to health plan data that can help tailor wellness
programs to the needs of employees, which can directly lead to the
bottom line. He explained, "The growing interest in self-insurance
among large-size firms pre-dates the Affordable Care Act. Yet as a
result of health care reform, we may see smaller employers
evaluating, for the first time, if self-insurance is right for
them."
Adding to those points, Booker
Moore, President and CEO of L.R. Webber Associates, an
employee benefits advisory firm, said, "We're seeing a trend with
employers of converting fully insured plans into a self-funded
program as they seek to gain access to more detailed claims data to
address long-term cost-control issues."
Members of the panel also emphasized that not all self-funding
is the same, and with a lot of choices and ways to administer a
plan, it's critically important to have trusted, knowledgeable
partners to help weigh the risks and tailor a solution. Fronstin
further explained, "Smaller employers that can absorb less risk
have to look at how one large medical claim could wipe them out.
That's why having the right stop-loss insurance to protect against
that is critical."
"We're living through a time of unprecedented change in how
Americans receive benefits, with new laws, new taxes, new delivery
systems, and a lot of uncertainty," said Dan Fishbein, President of Sun Life Financial
U.S. "Our Summits are designed to provide a cross-section of
viewpoints and information to help employers navigate those changes
and make thoughtful benefits decisions for their companies and
their employees."
More than 2,400 people watched the live webcast of the Summit,
which was broadcasted on April 1 from
the Bloomberg headquarters in New
York, indicating that these topics are top of mind for
brokers, employers and members of the employee benefits community.
To hear the insights from the following keynote speakers and expert
panelists, visit www.sunlife.com/wakeup:
- Keynote: Health Care Reform: Working/Not Working
- Jonathan Gruber, Professor of
Economics, MIT
- Michael Cannon, Director of
Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute
- Roundtable: The Self-Insurance Question: Should I?
- Paul Fronstin, Director, Health
Research and Education Program, Employee Benefit Research
Institute
- Booker Moore, President &
CEO, L.R. Webber Associates, Inc.
- Jeannette Rudy Fitzwater, Senior
Vice President, Director of Corporate Services, First United Bank
& Trust
- Don Thompson, Senior Vice
President, Human Resources, Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.
- Panel: Employer Decision Points
- Adam V. Russo, Co-Founder, CEO,
The Phia Group LLC
- Brad Nieland, Vice President,
Stop-Loss, Sun Life Financial U.S.
- David B. Angerman, Northeast
Regional Sales Director, UMR
The video, "Self-Insurance 101: A Practical Guide," which
provides background on self-insurance trends and medical stop-loss
insurance, is also available on www.sunlife.com/wakeup.
About the Sun Life Wake Up Summit
The Sun Life Wake Up
Summit, held on April 1, 2015, is the
third in a series of Summits hosted by Sun Life Financial. Sun Life
selected the topic of self-insurance based on the growing interest
it has experienced as the #1 independent writer of stop-loss
insurance in the U.S. 1 The inaugural Sun Life Summit, which was
attended by thousands of employers and benefits professionals in
October 2013, focused on the changing
health care landscape and the impact the Affordable Care Act has on
the U.S. workplace. The Sun Life Summit in 2014 delved into the
topic of private exchanges.
About Sun Life Financial
Celebrating 150 years in
2015, Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial
services organization providing a diverse range of protection and
wealth products and services to individuals and corporate
customers. The Sun Life Financial group of companies operates under
the "Sun Life Financial" name strictly as a marketing name and no
legal significance is expressed or implied. Sun Life Financial and
its partners have operations in key markets worldwide, including
Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong
Kong, the Philippines,
Japan, Indonesia, India, China,
Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. In the
United States and elsewhere, insurance products are offered
by members of the Sun Life Financial group that are insurance
companies.
In the United States, Sun Life
Financial provides a range of products and services to employers
and their employees, including Group and Voluntary Accident,
Critical Illness, Dental, Disability, Life, and Stop-Loss insurance
products. Product offerings may not be available in all states and
may vary depending on state laws and regulations. Sun Life
Financial Inc., the holding company for the Sun Life Financial
group of companies, is a public company. It is not an insurance
company and does not offer insurance products for sale in
the United States or elsewhere,
and does not guarantee the obligations of its insurance company
subsidiaries. Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New
York (NYSE), and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the
ticker symbol SLF. For more information about Sun Life Financial
U.S. please visit www.sunlife.com/us.
1. The #1
ranking is based on the 2013 year-end Sun Life Stop-Loss premium of
$915.2M and our analysis of marketshare data from various third
parties.
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SOURCE Sun Life Financial - United
States