A Matter of When, Not If by Charles Crispin, President & CEO, Evergreen Re

If you're like many executives at health plans across the country, you may have a nagging feeling a claim in excess of a million dollars could be coming your way at any moment. That feeling may indeed be a warning signal of things to come.

According to a recent report on the frequency of catastrophic claims, the incidence of claims in excess of one million dollars has tripled over the last three years. Many of these claims are in the areas of transplants, multiple and premature births, burns and trauma. They also happen as a result of complications following what is often routine treatment and in complications with chronic conditions requiring costly, long-term treatment. Increasingly, these claims are also occurring over short periods of treatment, often in non-traditional settings, and as a result are not adequately covered by traditional approaches to reinsurance.

Million dollar plus claims are already an everyday occurrence in this country. As technology and treatments continue to evolve, experimental treatments become routine and resultant medical trend continues to climb, the number of catastrophic claims will grow as well. The only way to deal with that eventuality is to be prepared. A quality risk management program includes evaluating your overall risk profile, transferring appropriate levels and types of risk to third parties and thoroughly analyzing the financial consequences of any new initiatives. The threat is real and we want to make sure you’re ready to meet the challenge.