Health insurance trends you need to know about

Posted on Apr 19, 2016 by Rob McBroom

We are pleased to announce that we have released our latest report, Top International Private Medical Insurance Trends - 2016, available now on our main website. This report has been designed to help provide business owners, managers, and HR teams managing health insurance insight into what other companies are doing to effectively manage their health insurance strategy.

If you are responsible for managing your company's health insurance benefits you likely know that it is inevitable that premiums will increase. While this can be manageable for some, for others increasing premiums can be tough to manage, especially when operating on thin margins.

There are an infinite number of solutions you can try in order to effectively manage your plan. The problem is, it can take time and resources to find the best ones, both of which you likely don't have. One option that has proven successful in the past for many is to take a look at what the current industry trends are and what other companies are doing, and considering if that will work for yours. The issue is, how do you find out what other companies are doing? That's the question Pacific Prime set out to answer when we commissioned our latest report.

About the report

To identify the current health insurance trends and what companies are doing to integrate them, we interviewed six health insurance industry experts from five of the top providers:

• Robert Lang, Managing Director, Bupa Global

• Kevin Melton, Sales and Marketing Director, AXA International Health Business

• Steve Conway, Regional General Manager, Asia at Allianz Worldwide Care

• Mike Che, Associate Director, Business Development, Cigna Worldwide

• Kapil Dhir, Chief Compliance Officer, Aetna International

• Steve Clement, Lead Benefit Consultant, Human Resources, Aetna International

Utilizing the information from those interviewed, we were able to identify four major trends that are impacting the way companies manage their health insurance. The interviews also uncovered a number of actions insurers had seen their clients take that could provide some useful ideas to others reading the report.

The four major trends this report covers include:

• Using cost containment measures - The fact of the matter is, health insurance premiums will almost always be increasing. While some companies are ok paying the increased premiums, many others are starting to implement strategies that see costs contained. This section covers what insurers have seen companies doing and what they recommend will help ensure measures implemented will work.  

• Managing benefits - The insurers interviewed all noted that many businesses are looking to better manage the benefits they offer. When it comes to health insurance there are a number of interesting trends around how benefits are being managed, the most effective of which are shared in this section.  

• Integrating technology - Technology is starting to play an integral role in health insurance, with many providers leveraging it to increase the usability of their products. In this section, we cover the most useful ways technology is being integrated to help businesses better manage their health insurance.  

• Working with regulation - Many countries are implementing strict regulation of anything related to the financial sector, including insurance. The issue here is that much of the regulation is disparate, every country is doing something different. This means that businesses with multiple offices will need to be aware of regulations and work within them. This section covers what is being done and how you can stay on top of regulation.

Where can I learn more about these health insurance trends?

The Top International Private Medical Insurance Trends - 2016 report has been launched and is available now on our main website. There is also a PDF copy available which can be downloaded by clicking Download from the report website, or by following this link.

If you would like to learn more about how your business can effectively manage health insurance, or implement a solution that will work for your business, contact the experts at Pacific Prime China today.