What's underwriting consulting at ThreeFlow?

Underwriters often hold the keys to understanding the employee benefits industry. They assess demographics, industry, plan design, and claim history to determine the pricing, offer, and conditions of quotes submitted to brokers, which become deciding factors when employers choose their benefit plan. However, in a typical insurance structure, brokers and employers mostly speak with sales teams, so an underwriter’s valuable expertise remains untapped.

At ThreeFlow, we’ve assembled a team with deep expertise in underwriting to partner with brokers and carriers. ThreeFlow sits in between the broker and carrier marketplace as a third party, meaning our underwriting consultants are positioned to provide an unbiased consultation. ThreeFlow seeks to provide more information, data, and support to brokers and carriers so they can make better benefit decisions. A key part to how we provide unparalleled guidance is driven by the role of our underwriting consulting team.

Partnering to get RFPs underwriter-ready

In a typical RFP process, brokers are responsible for pulling everything together manually. In a busy environment, this can result in cut corners during the preparation phase, which ultimately leads to more back and forth later on. This delays the receipt of quotes and elongates the timeline for client deliverables.

ThreeFlow's workflows prompt brokers for the right documentation at the right time and are purpose-built to organize and share it with the carriers.

Additionally, ThreeFlow’s underwriting consulting team ensures that carriers receive underwriter-ready RFPs and help brokers anticipate questions that may arise. This helps both parties be more efficient without the headache or time loss of chasing down missing information.

Presenting clear summaries of benefit plan designs

ThreeFlow uses the power of technology to provide brokers with in-depth information on benefit plans. We use automation to quickly and accurately present a clear summary of current and proposed plan designs, making it easier to understand the most important essential details and compare them across carriers.

Unlike traditional benefit plan comparisons, where plan design components are hidden or overlooked, ThreeFlow allows brokers to view dozens of provisions at one time. This means that instead of showing only price, brokers can see carriers' value propositions and differentiation, to better understand the components of the benefit plans they are comparing.

When brokers have questions about the analysis, they work directly with our underwriting consulting team to arrive at the best recommendation for the employer.

‍Ensuring implementation

When your client does decide on a benefit plan and moves to a new carrier, you’ll want to ensure the coverage is implemented accurately. However, because negotiations can happen until the final moments before a client presentation, it's common for contracts, policies, and certificates to have discrepancies between what was agreed upon and what was implemented. In fact, at ThreeFlow, we have found these discrepancies occur about 27% of the time.

ThreeFlow's underwriting consulting team provides a policy audit-as-a-service when coverage changes carriers. By leveraging our technology and team, brokers can identify contract discrepancies before they impact the client. In addition, catching changes needed proactively helps with the general implementation and avoids common member and service issues once the benefit plan is live. ‍

Providing unbiased, expert consultations

ThreeFlow provides unbiased consultations based on data and expertise. We provide an overview on each benefit plan, experience, and risks, so brokers have more information to decide what's best.

Benefit plan review

We review plan designs, looking at essential aspects such as; industry, emerging trends, and ease of administration. Our team works to maximize savings, stability, employee satisfaction, protection, attraction, and retention. ‍

Experience review

Then we consider claims experience trends, whether you're marketing a group or simply seeking a fair renewal.

Risk Review

Lastly, we help support strategy on best managing risk and reaching an outcome that works for your client and carrier partner.

Want to learn more about ThreeFlow’s underwriting consulting capabilities? Request a demo today. And stay tuned for our Benefit Breakdown series, where we’ll dive into a particular line of coverage and discuss what ThreeFlow’s data shows on trends.

Interested in joining our team? Check out our job listings!