How Not to Run an International Health Insurance RFP: Why Many “Re-marketing” Exercises Are Deliberately Designed to Fail
Many organisations believe they are “re-marketing” (as some brokers like to call it) their health insurance each year. They send out a census, perhaps a table of benefits, and ask a few insurers to submit quotes. On paper, it looks like due diligence.
In reality, many of these requests for proposal (or RFPs) are fundamentally flawed from the start. The surprising part is that the mistake often doesn’t come from the client. It comes from the broker.
Critical Missing Piece: Claims Data and Premiums
For any insurer to produce a competitive, experience-rated quote for a group of almost any meaningful size, they need four things:
- A clean (anonymized) member census
- A full table of benefits
- At least 2 years of claims experience (though ideally 3+ years)
- Current premiums
If items 3 and 4 are missing, any quote will be heavily padded with assumptions. Insurers do this to protect themselves because they have no idea what they are actually being asked to insure.
The result is predictable: inflated pricing, wide ranges, and quotes that look uncompetitive. It then becomes very easy for the incumbent insurer to renew with minimal pressure.
When a Broker Withholds Data, Whose Interests Are Served?
It is I suppose sometimes understandable when a client hesitates to release claims data or current premiums because they might be worried about confidentiality or they don’t understand how health insurance pricing works. In those situations, a good broker should walk them through why insurers cannot quote accurately without these two vital pieces of information.
But when the broker themselves chooses not to release the claims data or current premiums – even when the insurer has already provided it to them – the dynamic changes.
A process like this benefits only two parties:
• The incumbent insurer
• The incumbent broker
It does not benefit the client. The client is led to believe that the market has been tested, when in fact the RFP was never capable of producing competitive results.
(By the way, the term “re-marketing” is telling in itself – it implies the broker is simply circulating the plan to tick a box, not genuinely testing the market or challenging the incumbent insurer. In practice, it often signals a lack of real intent to change providers, especially when key data and information is withheld).
The Unintended Consequences of a Weak RFP
When insurers are not given the claims experience or current premiums, the process breaks down in several ways:
• Competing insurers submit conservative estimates, not true quotes.
• The incumbent insurer appears to be the “best option” by default.
• Leadership teams cannot meaningfully compare the market.
• Renewal outcomes end up being based on assumptions, not real competition.
• The organisation remains locked into a cycle of high premiums and low visibility.
This is not a market exercise. It is a formality dressed up as one.
Why Sharing More Data Always Leads to Better Pricing
The reason insurance is priced based on claims history is simple: it is the only way to understand the risk profile of a group. When insurers are given the claims experience and the current premiums, two positive things happen:
- Pricing becomes grounded in evidence rather than guesswork.
- Insurers sharpen their pencils because they can actually see what they are competing for.
One World Cover sees this all the time. When clients commit to a transparent, equitable and proper RFP process, the improvement in pricing and terms can be dramatic.
What a Credible RFP Looks Like
A proper market review or RFP exercise includes:
• At least 2 years of claims experience (though ideally 3+ years)
• Current and historical premiums for the past 3-5 years, grouped by coverage tier (if applicable)
• A clean (anonymized) member census
• A full table of benefits for the current policy year – and for the past 3-5 years, noting any benefit changes over that time
• Consistent data shared with every participating insurer
This gives every insurer the same starting point and ensures you get actual competition, not indicative estimates.
The Cost of Making Decisions in the Dark
Health insurance can be a very large cost centre for globally mobile organisations. The idea that a broker would run an RFP without the data needed for insurers to quote responsibly is difficult to defend. It is also unnecessary. The data exists. Insurers release it. Clients are entitled to it.
If the goal is to secure the best pricing, the best terms, and the best long-term sustainability, an RFP has to be designed for success – not convenience.
One World Cover supports clients with transparent, data-driven market exercises that ensure insurers can quote competitively and leadership teams can make decisions based on real intelligence. Because without claims data, you are not running an RFP – you’re running a renewal disguised as one.
If you’d like help reviewing your current process or designing a proper RFP for your next renewal cycle, we’d love to help.
To learn more please get in touch: [email protected] or click here to contact us.
