We can help you to decide which benefits, if any, should be self-funded, and we can assist you with determining the appropriate Stop-Loss protection. Traditionally, insurance companies consider premiums as a prepayment of future claims. However, sometimes companies would prefer to have better control over their funds. With self-funding benefits, this is possible, because employee claims are paid from the company’s budget, instead of from the insurance company. Of course, this type of plan comes with an element of risk. If the amount of employee claims is within the company’s budget, they are able to be paid, and the company will get to keep the surplus. But what if employee claims are higher than what is in the company’s budget? This is where Stop-Loss comes in. It reduces this risk by referring claims over the predetermined limit to an insurance company for processing. In this case, the Stop-Loss limit is similar to a high deductible.