Medical stop-loss insurance's popularity is on the rise as more employers look to an array of tools to protect themselves from unexpected health insurance costs.

A white paper produced by insurer QBE Solutions notes that the percentage of self-insured employers that have stop-loss coverage has risen from less than 50 percent in 2000 to 60 percent today. Medical stop-loss coverage protects self-insured plans from unexpectedly high claims.

The paper concludes that several key factors are driving the increase:

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  • Ongoing cost increases in health insurance;

  • Major insurance claims are higher than they once were;

  • The complexities of compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has raised concerns among self-insured plan sponsors about unexpected costs.

Small employers are moving to stop-loss and doing so in groups that offer them many of the same advantages that enterprise employers derive from stop-loss coverage, the paper says.

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Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.