Renewal season is right around the corner — and with it comes the long, complicated process of finding and selecting the right stop loss insurance policy for your self-funded clients.
With so many options out there, and most of them reflecting the ever-rising costs of the healthcare industry, it’s no wonder many employers dread this time of year.
Here at Vālenz Health®, we see it as an opportunity: a time to embrace a better, more cost-efficient way of renewing stop loss, with policies designed to deliver smarter, better, faster healthcare for years to come.
Using our decades of experience providing differentiated stop loss underwriting, our team has created this guide to help brokers, TPAs, and self-funded employers alike simplify their renewal process.
Keep reading to learn what to look for when reviewing your stop loss renewal options — and, for personalized help finding the right plan for your needs, reach out to our experienced underwriting team anytime.
While every self-funded employer has different needs and goals for their stop loss coverage, there are a few key factors that every successful stop loss program should have in 2025.
In our experience, these factors are the best indicators that a stop loss policy can not only properly protect self-funded employers from financial risk but also deliver higher-quality care to members without breaking the bank.
First off, a stop loss policy should always be tailored to the self-funded employer’s business needs and goals.
An incredible array of factors — the number of covered lives, a payer’s budget, the risk tolerance of the employer, etc. — influence the design of a stop loss policy, so much so that “one size fits all” solutions simply cannot offer the degree of protection that self-funded employers need.
When renewing stop loss policies, don’t just look for companies that offer personalized underwriting; look for professionals who will provide the individual attention demanded by this complex process.
Here at Valenz, we pride ourselves on the level of direct access payers and brokers have to our underwriting team. We are always available to answer questions and personally guide our clients through the stop loss renewal process, working together to design the perfect policy for their situations.
While renewal typically occurs once a year, the discussion about stop loss needs and policies shouldn’t be a one-and-done situation. Instead, the policy renewal process should be proactively executed, informed by ongoing conversations between self-funded employers, brokers, and stop loss underwriters throughout the year.
The best stop loss producers plan far in advance for renewal season. They are aware of the ever-changing challenges facing their clients, having collaborated with them throughout the year on ad hoc reporting, reevaluation of priorities, and discussions of industry trends.
As a result, brokers and their employer clients should be well-aware of anticipated costs when renewal season rolls around — because it has already been a topic of discussion for months prior.
To avoid the shock typically associated with policy renewal, seek out stop loss producers and underwriters with a proactive approach to this process. Ask prospective providers: How do you collaborate with clients outside the renewal season? How do you ask for and incorporate feedback from clients throughout the year? How early do you start preparing renewal strategies and documents?
Stop loss policies serve self-funded employers throughout the year, not just during renewal, so look for a company that respects and implements that strategy, as the underwriters at Valenz do.
Stop loss insurance doesn’t exist in a vacuum. To maximize its effectiveness, a stop loss policy should be designed with cost-saving opportunities in mind — ones that certain stop loss producers may be able to directly provide as part of an integrated healthcare offering.
For example, at Valenz, our stop loss team underwrites policies with our full solution suite in mind. This includes cost-saving, specialty solutions such as surgery bundles and care navigation, both of which direct members to lower-cost, higher-quality healthcare options that reduce overall plan spend. Even better, we provide credits for integrating those options in the very first year of the plan.
When stop loss protection is built as part of an integrated healthcare strategy, the entire system works more efficiently. ValenzONE is the latest proof of that concept in action.
As a health plan optimizer that integrates cost containment and member engagement solutions under one umbrella, ValenzONE uses a variable co-pay model to deliver measurable savings to our clients, including a 7%–12% average employer savings. Our differentiated stop loss underwriting is a key aspect of the solution, delivering accurate risk assessments and more competitive rates (including up to a 50% reduction in premiums) based on the proven success of our integrated healthcare model.
Learn more about ValenzONE and its potential for your clients by contacting our team members today.
While most stop loss plans are renewed on a year-to-year basis, the best stop loss plans are designed with a multi-year cost-saving strategy in mind.
The complex nature of today’s healthcare ecosystem means significant savings are most effectively achieved over the long term. That’s because the data and programs that make those savings possible take time to gather and implement, respectively.
For example, if a stop loss underwriter has little data on a plan’s covered members (such as their average claim costs, any members with complex care needs driving most of the costs, etc.), they must rely on educated guesses and industry trends to predict anticipated costs for the years ahead.
On the other hand, stop loss underwriters who can access and analyze members’ historical claims before underwriting can more accurately anticipate that spend — and recommend the best benefits features to minimize those costs.
Of course, programs like member engagement take time to implement and work successfully within a healthcare benefits plan. But a stop loss producer who recognizes their potential — and underwrites with a multi-year strategy in mind — can better reward self-funded employers for their investment and tailor their stop loss underwriting to account for those investments over the years to come.
Finally, as we’ve alluded to throughout this guide, one of the most important factors to look for during stop loss renewal is a stop loss underwriter who supports the inclusion of cost-savings opportunities with appropriate credits.
Stop loss underwriters want to help self-funded employers avoid high claim costs; it’s a win-win situation for all involved. But not all underwriters put their money where their mouth is by financially supporting the programs that make it happen.
The Valenz underwriters do.
We actively provide cost concessions and credits for cost-saving solutions that our clients implement to their benefits plans. This includes programs like cost steerage and member navigation, which support the utilization of higher-value healthcare without unnecessarily high costs.
In short, by including our stop loss underwriting team into the plan design process, our clients can get rewarded for delivering better healthcare to their members — a key mission of all of us here at Valenz.
In many ways, renewing a stop loss policy is just as important as renewing an overall healthcare benefits package — and the process should be treated with the respect and forethought required to get it right.
As you and your self-funded clients embark on this yearly process, keep this guide and its recommendations handy. It could mean the difference between overpaying for a stop loss policy that overdelivers and choosing a stop loss partner who is committed to your long-term financial success.
Here at Valenz, we proudly provide stop loss protection to self-funded employee benefit plans of 11 or more lives, engaging early and often to mitigate fiduciary risk by aligning our underwriting with the summary plan description.
To learn how the Valenz Stop Loss solutions go beyond traditional policies to deliver faster reimbursements, predictable renewals, and stronger client protection, contact one of our team members below.