Dan Strusz, former President and CEO of Tokio Marine HCC – Stop Loss Group (TMHCC), has had a long and successful career in the self-insurance industry. Graduating from Winona State University in the early 1980’s with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, his first job out of college was in the premium accounting department at Paul Burke and Associates, a division of Alexander and Alexander. Before long he was working as an underwriting supervisor. Fast forward 30 years to his tenure as CEO of TMHCC, and now as Chairman, Dan has seen a lot of changes in the industry.
As the self-insurance industry has evolved over the years, Dan has seen many growth opportunities. With the Affordable Care Act, more groups started self-funding their medical plans and purchasing stop loss protection. “Stop loss insurance is more important now because of unlimited coverage, and businesses need added protection from catastrophic claims,” says Dan. "These days the costs of care and prescription drugs are so high, we will need to continue to evolve to account for changes in the market."
If there is anything Dan would change about the self-insurance industry today, he says it would be to bring back limits “to help put the health plans and hospitals in line with what we want to see for pricing. These days, they seem to charge whatever they want, and it’s getting worse. If unmitigated, we may need a risk pool in place to protect people from these excessive charges.”
With the current political environment in the United States and the upcoming presidential election in 2020, Dan says it’s difficult to predict what could happen in the next ten years. But the good news is there is current legislation on surprise medical billing and orphan drugs that address the rising consumer health care costs. Dan says there is a lot of talk of transparency, and checks and balances are being put in place. “I think as medical technology changes, you’ll see fast track approvals for things such as gene therapies and CAR-T cell therapies that will replace existing treatment protocol. And while they are expensive, in many cases they are curative. I think we need to partner with somebody that can help us find a solution for protecting the employer groups,” Dan says. As for the 2020 election, Dan says it is difficult to predict which way it will go, but he doesn’t see “Medicare for all” being possible at this time due to the costs associated with it.
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As for the future of TMHCC, Dan feels we are sufficiently bullish on stop loss coverage and we will continue to grow with the changing environment. “I think the key is, we have to continue to be disciplined in our underwriting and stay within our risk threshold, and just grow systematically from there,” Dan says. “I foresee new product lines down the road with gene therapy and CAR-T cell therapy, things that are greatly needed in the industry, that we could provide. And to me that is very exciting.”
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