Multi-million dollar claims continue to rise, but employers — with the help of their brokers and stop-loss carriers — can find ways to contain the costs, according to Sun Life Financial's 2017 Sun Life Stop-Loss Research Report.

The stop-loss carrier reviewed 53,000 claims during 2009 through 2016, and found that the number of multi-million-dollar claimants increased 68 percent from 114 to 192. While that represents a small fraction of the total number of cases — just 2.2 percent in 2016 — multi-million dollar claims account for a greater proportion of reimbursement dollars — 23 percent of total stop-loss reimbursements in 2016.

Over the four-year period, total costs for catastrophic claims reached $6.1 billion, with $2.7 billion paid in stop-loss reimbursements.

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Katie Kuehner-Hebert

Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience, with particular expertise in employee benefits and other human resource topics.