To help Aim members control the increasing cost of their employee medical insurance.
Pooling insurance requires financial stability, and financial stability requires commitment. Multiple employer agreements without a strong commitment by participants are rarely successful. When a program allows participants to leave at any time for any reason, the program is doomed from the start in most cases. A trust can be successful when participants agree to join others for the long-term, knowing that in some years they will be benefited by the trust and in other years the trust will be benefited by having them as members.
Each participating member is an owner of the Trust. The Trust is managed by 12 trustees who are responsible for all decisions; six of these trustees are elected by members and serve as their representatives.
The school trusts typically consist of 6-12 schools on a regional basis and are usually not looking to grow. The Aim Medical Trust is a statewide offering through the membership of Aim and our goal is to grow significantly in the coming years.
We currently have 39 cities and towns representing 3,200 employees and counting.
We would like to grow to 5,000 to 10,000 covered employees in the next 3-5 years. The larger the group, the more predictable and stable the Trust will be.
Yes. If you leave the Trust and comply with the withdrawal provisions in the Trust agreement, the Trust is responsible for all run-out claims for your employees.
The Trust owns the reserves.
The Trustees will make all decisions on how to use the reserves. Here are just a few ways the reserves could be used:
Adding employees to the Trust lowers fixed costs like administrative costs and reinsurance. It also makes claim expenses more predictable, and the more predictable the claims experience, the more exposure the Trust can retain. Finally, it allows the Trust to develop reserves that can be returned to participants by offsetting future premium costs.
Unfortunately, we can’t make any guarantees about the cost of future premiums. However, one of the main advantages of the Trust is that we spread risk over a larger number of members. This reduces volatility and makes for lower premium renewals over time. One of our primary objectives is to lower the trend of premium increases, which has been running between 8% and 15% for the last decade.
Renewal increases are tiered so that above average performers receive lower increases than below average performers.
We built the Trust on sound principles and a long-term commitment to properly fund premiums (which include all fixed costs and 100% of maximum claims costs plus reserves for run-out claims). The Board of Trustees will make sound decisions on the financial stability of the Trust. Also, the Trust is regulated by the Indiana Department of Insurance for its members’ protection.
We intend to offer proposals to all municipalities that express interest in joining the Trust, subject to our underwriting parameters. One of our key requirements is to be viable over the long term. The Trustees have appointed an Underwriting Committee to oversee the growth of the Trust. If your city or town would not positively impact the Trust, you may not receive a quote for this year; however, risk does change, so you may reapply in following years and be reviewed for a quote at that time.
Yes, the Trust offers attractively priced life insurance coverage with Lincoln Financial, as well as dental and vision products with Cigna.
You’ll have a dedicated team of professionals to handle any claims disputes or errors. Your dedicated team consists of an Account Executive and Account Manager from UnitedHealthcare, an Account Executive and Claims Resolution Specialist from Henriott Group, and Ann Cottingim, the Director of Trust Operations for Aim.
They will be offered coverage by UnitedHealthcare’s broad national network, so they will receive the same quality of care and network discounts that they experience in Indiana.
The Trust will not compensate your local broker as there is no role for the local broker in the Trust model. The Trust is trying to remove cost from the program in order to minimize cost for participating cities and towns. Broker responsibilities within the Trust are currently handled by our consultant, Henriott Group. However, if an individual city or town wishes to retain their local broker out of their own budget for ancillary benefits or other services, that is their own decision.
The vast majority of your claims cost come from a small percentage of your employees. On-site clinics are focused on routine primary care and preventative medicine and, if they are well done, will become an integral part of a wellness improvement program. But unfortunately most of your claims will be unaffected in the short term. Pooling – because it provides larger scale to spread your risk – will help to minimize the spikes in your claims that result in large increases in your cost for health benefits.
Wellness efforts are central to the success of the Trust in controlling future health care costs. The Trust has a wellness strategy that will continue to evolve over time as our membership and resources grow. Currently, the Trust is considering the adoption of a “Commitment to Wellness” resolution that would include:
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