The 2026 QBE Accident & Health Market Report
High-Cost Claims Are No Longer Rare. They Are Expected.
The stop loss market is being reshaped by a clear shift in both claim frequency and severity. Claims that used to feel unusual are now showing up more often, moving faster, and reaching higher layers of risk.
The 2026 QBE Accident & Health Market Report breaks down what is driving that pressure: million dollar claims, cancer treatment complexity, pediatric and neonatal severity, specialty pharmaceuticals, hospital pricing, PBM transparency, and the growing importance of data access and administrator alignment.
For brokers and self funded employers, this report is a useful way to understand why the renewal conversation can no longer stop at the quote. The real question is what is being managed before high cost claims become next year’s renewal story.
What’s inside:
| Why Million Dollar Claim Frequency Has Tripled Over the Past Five Years | |
| How Pediatric Claimants Made Up Six of the 10 Highest Cost Claims in QBE’s 2025 Experience | |
| Why Blood Cancers Represent More Than Half of Neoplasm Claims at the $1M Deductible Level | |
| How Specialty Drugs Are Becoming a Long Tail Liability, Not a One-Time Expense | |
| Why Hospital Pricing and Inpatient Acuity Are Changing Claim Severity | |
| What PBM Transparency, Plan Data Access, and TPA Alignment Mean for Self-Funded Employers | |
| How Brokers Can Help Clients Move From Reactive Renewal Shopping to Proactive Risk Strategy |
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