Captive insurance education: property, CAT, ownership models, and strategic risk management for organizations across industries
The Torch Briefings are PFTN's in-depth articles on captive insurance structures, property risk, ownership models, financial discipline, and strategic implementation. Written with the PFTN voice: confident, educational, and focused on moving beyond traditional insurance toward ownership and control.
For five years the telehealth safe harbor for high-deductible health plans lived on borrowed time, lapsing and reviving with each budget cycle. In 2026 it is finally permanent — and that changes how self-funded employers should design the benefit.
Read ArticleFor a decade the serious health-cost conversation led one way: take on risk, self-fund, add stop-loss, pool it in a captive. In 2026 the individual coverage HRA has grown large enough to ask a different question — whether an employer should own that risk at all.
Read ArticleThe regulatory ground under mental health parity shifted in 2025, but the statutory obligation did not. For self-funded employers, MHPAEA remains a fiduciary duty you carry directly — enforcement pause or not.
Read ArticleA single clause in a network or administrative-services agreement can forbid a self-funded plan from seeing its own cost and claims data — and the CAA makes the employer, not the carrier, prove those clauses are gone by December 31. What the 2026 gag-clause attestation requires, and why it strikes at the premise of self-funding.
Read ArticleMercer projects the steepest employer health benefit cost increase in fifteen years for 2026 — past $18,500 per employee. Why mid-market employers are moving from the fully-insured renewal to a member-owned group-health captive: the funding continuum from level-funding to ownership, unredacted claims transparency, and the governance the structure demands.
Read ArticleThe manufacturing floor writes its own claims story — an aging workforce, musculoskeletal wear, and rising specialty-pharmacy cost. How a group medical stop-loss captive smooths renewal volatility and lasering, and gives the employer ownership of its underwriting margin.
Read ArticleHospitality and restaurant operators feel 2026’s double-digit health cost increases more than most — high turnover, hourly workforces, and thin margins. How a group health captive gives a mid-market operator transparency, retained savings, and control over a cost the fully-insured market keeps opaque.
Read ArticleA single dialysis patient can reshape a self-funded plan year. How end-stage renal disease concentrates cost, why the Marietta v. DaVita ruling hands plans a reimbursement lever, and how stop-loss and captive structure let a mid-market employer own the exposure deliberately in 2026.
Read ArticleOne air-ambulance flight can rewrite a plan year. For self-funded employers, the No Surprises Act moved that exposure from the member to the plan document — and 2026's IDR backlog and QPA litigation raise the stakes for the sponsor who pays.
Read ArticlePharmacy is now roughly a quarter of health-plan spend and the part that behaves least like insurance. New 2026 PBM transparency rules give self-funded employers leverage — and the group-health captive gives them a structure to carve out specialty and GLP-1 exposure and control it.
Read ArticleERISA fiduciary-breach litigation has crossed from retirement plans into self-funded health and pharmacy costs. What the CAA changed, where Lewandowski v. Johnson & Johnson and Navarro v. Wells Fargo stand, and how plan sponsors build a governance committee, a documented prudent process, and the right fiduciary-liability coverage.
Read ArticleThe 831(b) election lets a small captive be taxed on investment income alone — a genuine benefit that has also drawn abuse. The 2025 final regulations and the 2026 CIC Services ruling reward substance and punish structure without insurance underneath.
Read ArticleRegulators from London to Tennessee are approving captives faster in 2026 — but only for complete files. Why the application itself is the governance test.
Read ArticleApproved gene and cell therapies now carry multimillion-dollar price tags. How self-funded employers can uncover the exposure and design plan and captive layers around it before the claim arrives.
Read ArticleReference-based pricing reprices claims off Medicare rather than a hospital chargemaster. The balance-billing risk, the No Surprises Act gap, and the fiduciary and stop-loss discipline a self-funded plan needs to run it.
Read ArticleMedian medical trend hits 9 percent in 2026. Why a member-owned group-health captive fits mid-market manufacturers with stable workforces, and how it differs from level-funding.
Read ArticleAs 2026 renewals hit a fifteen-year high, employers with 20 to 200 employees are looking past ACA community-rated coverage. Level funding sits between fully insured and self-funded — fixed monthly cost, surplus upside, and the claims data self-funding is prized for.
Read ArticleWegovy and Zepbound now list north of $1,000 a month, and GLP-1s have become the single largest force reshaping self-funded pharmacy spend in 2026. Where the exposure lives, why PBM rebates obscure it, and the plan-design levers that control trend.
Read ArticleThe median trucking nuclear verdict is now $51M, and commercial auto has been unprofitable for 14 straight years. The group captive is the structural response the mid-market fleet has been chased toward for a decade.
Read ArticleThe January 2026 medical stop-loss renewal averaged +23%. Gene therapies and GLP-1s have entered the working claim. The medical stop-loss group captive is the vehicle the standard market has chased self-funded employers toward for three years.
Read ArticleThe 2026 cyber renewal reads like a buyer's market — rates flat to negative ten percent. The schedule of endorsements tells a different story. Marsh's 2025 captive landscape data and Tennessee's protected cell regime are answering the gap the commercial form is now writing out.
Read ArticleThe strongest captive in any portfolio is the one whose board meeting reads like an internal audit. The March 5, 2026 CIC Services ruling formalized the governance posture that separates a real insurance company from a tax-motivated structure.
Read ArticleThe captive financial statement is the document that turns insurance from an expense into an instrument of ownership. The number on page one tells a different story than the policy on the trailer.
Read ArticleThe property market is soft. That's exactly when disciplined organizations should be building captive structures to lock in long-term savings, premium stability, and control over their property risk.
Read ArticleWhy property and catastrophe property coverage belong in a captive. How well-managed organizations are taking control of their property risk instead of subsidizing an unstable traditional market.
Read ArticleTraditional insurance operates on a simple principle: carriers win when they collect more in premiums than they pay in claims. Your discipline subsidizes negligence elsewhere. Discover how captive ownership flips this model.
Read ArticleBoth offer genuine ownership and underwriting profit retention. But they differ in capital requirements, control levels, and governance complexity. Learn which structure aligns with your organization's size and sophistication.
Read ArticleNinety percent of Fortune 500 companies use captive insurance. Universities, hospitals, and mid-market manufacturers are abandoning traditional insurance in favor of ownership. This isn't exotic—it's the new standard.
Read ArticleAM Best ratings verify financial strength and claims-paying ability. Understand the rating scales, what regulators and reinsurers require, and why independent verification matters for your captive's credibility.
Read ArticleCaptive ownership creates formal governance, data-driven decision-making, and direct profit incentives for risk reduction. Learn how ownership transforms insurance from overhead into strategic discipline.
Read ArticleSingle parent captives offer complete ownership, unlimited customization, and 100% profit retention. Understand capital requirements, governance obligations, ROI potential, and when pure captives make sense for your organization.
Read ArticleCaptive insurance education and strategic risk management across specialized industries and sectors. Each PFTN site focuses on industry-specific applications while sharing core captive insurance principles.
Foundations of risk management and captive insurance strategy
Captive solutions for construction, electrical, plumbing, and trade contractors
Captive insurance for government contractors and federal compliance
Risk management and captive strategies for nonprofits and associations