Wellfleet, a Berkshire Hathaway company, connects Stonebrook Risk with flexible products and cloud-based technology.
With its strong eye for innovation, Wellfleet continues to evaluate the market, and how its products and servicing can better support the evolving needs of its customers. One example of this is its partnership with Stonebrook Risk Solutions.
“Right now, there is a lot of change happening in the market. What we’re doing at Wellfleet is leading that change wherever we can, which includes partnering with innovators like Stonebrook,” said Lincoln May, Head of Strategic Relationships at Wellfleet. “We appreciate Stonebrook’s ability to offer employers and providers well-rounded benefits solutions and are excited to get in on the ‘ground floor’ as the company builds a nationwide network of regional health plans.”
For its part, Stonebrook has sought out “best-in-breed” partners that are able to provide innovative, tech-forward solutions that fill coverage gaps, to deliver a truly comprehensive healthcare package.
“We’ve looked at a lot of supplemental insurance companies,” stated Mark Angard, CEO at Stonebrook Risk Solutions. “Wellfleet really impressed us with their ultra-flexible products and cutting-edge technologies. When you add in that the company has been built by industry experts and is part of the Berkshire Hathaway family, you know you’re dealing with the A-team.”
Wellfleet’s story starts more than 25 years ago, when a small company known as Consolidated Health Plans (CHP), opened its doors to the student insurance market as a TPA. Administering student health plans remained the primary focus of the company until the late 2000s, when the well-known, multi-national conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, took an interest in the humble company.
Impressed by not only its track record but growth potential, in 2011, Berkshire Hathaway purchased CHP. From there, the company leveraged the financial strength and expertise of its parent company to upgrade its offerings, and started expanding into new geographies and business lines, including the K-12 and summer camp insurance space.
During this period of expansion, CHP was looking for additional opportunities to use its expertise in Accident and health coverages, and had noticed the rapid growth of the workplace benefits insurance market. While Berkshire Hathaway had a strong presence across several types of insurances, the voluntary market was not yet an area the company served.
No one just jumps into the insurance market and CHP was no exception. Before entering the highly competitive workplace benefits market, the company had a lot to do, including hiring industry veterans, building a suite of robust products, and creating the structures and processes needed to not only function but succeed.
Moreover, it needed to invest in technology resources that could serve a complex, quickly-evolving market. To really make a mark in an industry admittedly behind the technological expectations of other businesses, CHP was going to need to roll out differentiating technology that streamlined the company’s overall insurance administration and supported its core strength—servicing.
Rather than adapt its existing systems, the company invested heavily and built from the ground-up, a next-generation, cloud-based insurance administration platform named Lighthouse. The digitally-forward, ultra-flexible platform launched in 2021, and brings together smart technology and customized servicing to deliver a high-impact, customer-centric benefits experience.
Lighthouse has truly modernized how brokers, clients, technology partners, and employees connect with workplace benefits. By leveraging a single system, Lighthouse streamlines processes, while driving efficiencies and accuracies from end to end. This approach simplifies how workplace benefits solutions are offered, implemented, and administered.
So, what does this mean in real life? It translates to a whole lot of wins, including the ability to craft truly personalized benefits solutions with flexible, competitive products. Lighthouse also smoothly connects and exchanges data with the chosen HR technology platform, which is a huge time-saver. In addition, the platform enables the generation of precise bills with straightforward processing and supports the company’s intuitive, events-based claims handling.
CHP’s 2018 entry to the workplace market included a full-company name change to Wellfleet, which leadership felt better reflected its focus on providing customer-centric insurance solutions. The use of “well” in its namesake is a nod to the health and financial protection products the overall Wellfleet brand offers for every stage of life—from birth, through grade school, college, the workplace and beyond.
Just two years after entering the market, COVID-19 swept the world. For many brokers, employers, and employees, the pandemic shone a fierce, bright light on the gaps in their benefits programs.
“With the pandemic,” stated May, “there was a ‘flight to quality’. It really brought to the surface the importance of brokers and employers needing to do their due diligence around whether the benefits being offered to their employees were really meeting their needs.”
With its ultra-flexible products and state-of-the-art Lighthouse platform, Wellfleet was well-positioned to service customers during that time of change. Not only did it have the highly customizable products necessary to meet a range of financial protection needs and budgets, but it also had the digital capabilities and servicing expertise in place to support streamlined implementations, enrollments, billing, and claims handling.
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Wellfleet Workplace Benefits provide limited benefits and is not a substitute for mandated ACA healthcare coverage. Like most supplemental offerings these benefits may have state-specific variations, and some product offerings and details may not be available in all states. Rates are subject to change. Wellfleet reserves the right to raise premium rates with proper notice as noted in the policy and proposal. For complete details contact your Wellfleet Sales Representative. Wellfleet is the marketing name used to refer to the insurance and administrative operations of Wellfleet Insurance Company, Wellfleet New York Insurance Company, and Wellfleet Group, LLC. All insurance products are administered or managed by Wellfleet Group, LLC. Product availability is based upon business and/or regulatory approval and may differ among states.
Availability is based upon business and/or regulatory approval and may differ among states.