Arch Insurance North America has introduced a group voluntary benefits suite covering accident medical expense, hospital cash indemnity and annual travel insurance, targeting the out-of-pocket cost categories that employer-sponsored health plans most consistently leave uncovered. The launch is timed to a specific and well-documented market pressure: employer health benefit costs are rising at their fastest rate in 15 years, and the primary response is shifting more financial risk onto workers rather than absorbing it.
Mercer's 2025 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans projects health benefit costs will rise 6.5% per employee in 2026, the steepest increase in 15 years. Without plan changes, average cost growth would have approached 9%. The survey, covering more than 1,700 US employers, found 59% plan to make cost-cutting plan changes in 2026, up from 48% in 2025 - with cost-shifting to workers as the primary mechanism. The Kaiser Family Foundation's 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey found more than one-third of covered US workers already carry single-coverage deductibles of $2,000 or more. The Employee Benefit Research Institute found in November 2025 that employers see voluntary benefits as a way to help workers manage out-of-pocket costs, and that organisations without voluntary benefits reported higher group health insurance premiums and lower workforce productivity.
The three Arch products are designed for precisely the gap those deductibles and cost shifts create. Accident-related medical expenses, hospitalisation costs and travel disruption are among the most frequent out-of-pocket categories workers face when their employer health plan stops paying - and none of the three Arch products duplicate what standard employer plans cover. They supplement rather than compete.
All three require no medical underwriting for enrollment - the design feature that matters most for brokers placing supplemental coverage with mid-market and small employer accounts. Individual qualification requirements are a common friction point in those segments, and the absence of medical screening reduces administrative burden for HR departments and shortens placement timelines. For brokers managing multiple employer accounts simultaneously, a no-underwriting suite simplifies the placement process across the group rather than requiring case-by-case qualification decisions.
The accident medical expense product reimburses workers for covered out-of-pocket costs tied to accident-related medical events. The hospital cash indemnity product pays a daily cash benefit directly to hospitalised employees, applicable to medical bills, transportation or childcare during recovery. The annual travel insurance product covers employees and their families on personal leisure trips throughout the year under a single annual enrollment, with benefits including trip cancellation, emergency medical costs, emergency evacuation and baggage delays.
Arch described the suite as targeting gaps many workers face from accident-related expense reimbursement to year-round travel coverage for personal trips - a positioning that connects each product to a specific out-of-pocket category rather than presenting them as general supplemental cover.
The voluntary suite adds to Arch's broader employee benefits portfolio, which includes short-term disability, paid family and medical leave in statutory states, employee accident, business travel accident coverage and Medical GAP insurance.
