Two problems:
- Humana is capping the costs of its "SmartResults" self-insured plans and only putting 40% of their fees at risk. If they were really putting their money where their mouth is they would be capping the cost of fully insured plans--and if they are so confident on their self-insured product, why not put all fees at risk?
- Humana is guaranteeing that the consumer-driven employer plans total health costs will rise by no more than 6% to 9% during the next three years (based upon how aggressive the employer plan is). Since they have consistently said employer trend is now in the 5.5% to 6.5% range, I wouldn't call that one of the bigger risks I have ever seen a health insurer take.
Apparently, Humana agrees with my concern that their 4.2% trend rate won't be sustained. If they believed in their 4.2% trend rate, they'd be guaranteeing a lot better than a 6% to 9% cap.
Humana Caps Annual Rate Increases on Some Plans (bizjournals)
Post: More Than 10 Million Now Using Consumer-Driven Health Care Accounts--We Will Soon Have Enough Data to Know How Well HSAs and HRAs Work