Why Employee Health Benefits May Belong in Your Captive: A Strategic and Practical Guide for Captive Owners
Self-funded health plans and medical stop-loss insurance typically represent the largest unmanaged risk on most business' balance sheets — yet remain underutilized in captive structures despite their compatibility with what captive owners already know. This session delivers a practical, governance-aware framework for evaluating the opportunity across captive structures, covering ERISA fiduciary obligations, real-world implementation, and a due diligence roadmap.
Learning objectives:
- Learn how self-funded employer health plans and medical stop-loss insurance interact, and identify the parallels between stop-loss risk financing and the excess/aggregate layers captive owners already deploy in P&C programs.
- Distinguish among the primary captive structures used to finance employee benefits risk — single-parent, group captive, protected cell, and series LLC — and identify the ERISA fiduciary and DOL compliance obligations that attach to each.
- Provide a practical due diligence framework for evaluating whether an employer's self-funded health program is a candidate for captive financing and recognize the conditions under which the structure is not the right fit.
John Kirke serves as Executive Vice President of Beyond Health Partners, where he leads strategy, growth, and market execution for one of the industry’s most comprehensive healthcare captive and stop loss platforms. In this role, he is responsible for aligning underwriting, distribution, and integrated cost-containment solutions to deliver high-performance outcomes for employer-sponsored health plans and their broker partners.
With more than 25 years of experience across the healthcare and employee benefits landscape, John brings a unique blend of carrier, brokerage, and captive leadership. His career includes senior sales leadership at a national health insurer and executive roles within a leading brokerage firm, culminating in his current position driving innovation in self-funded health plans and medical stop loss captives. He is widely recognized for advancing strategies that align incentives, improve transparency, and materially reduce healthcare costs through disciplined underwriting and high-value care models.
John is an active voice in the industry, frequently speaking at conferences and collaborating with brokers, employers, and solution partners to advance best practices in healthcare financing and risk management. His work continues to shape how organizations approach cost control, risk sharing, and long-term sustainability in employer health plans.
Outside of business, John and his family reside in Greenwood Village, Colorado and enjoy life with blue skies and mountains.
Join us on Wednesday, May 20, 2026 from 7:30 AM - 8:45 AM AZ (PDT) for this virtual program.
The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement. This activity may qualify for up to 1 hour toward your annual CLE requirement for the State Bar of Arizona, including 1 hour(s) of professional responsibility.
The event will not be recorded.
Cancellation Policy: No refunds. Substitutions (someone else attending) may be requested.
Thank you to our sponsor:
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