MILWAUKEE, Wis. – InterLutions is reporting its I-Care Employee Benefits program grew at a record pace in 2019 as the result of partnering with 18 new credit unions and nearly doubling the overall pool of insured employees under the I-Care program.
InterLutions is a CUSO that seeks to lower healthcare expenses and enhance benefits offerings for credit unions.
According to the company, a primary reason for the growth in new I-Care partners stemmed from the launch of an Association Health Plan (AHP). The CUSO said it built a collaborative solution at the request of its credit union advisory council to help credit unions deliver better benefits at lower costs. The AHP launched with nearly 500 total insured credit union employees and delivered an average savings of 12% to its clients, InterLutions reported. It added that in an environment where most employers are seeing 4% to 8% medical insurance increases annually, the opportunity for credit unions to experience a 12% reduction “helps dramatically.”
An ‘Innovative Model’
“We built an innovative model exclusively for credit unions where growth of insured lives in the I-Care pool is proving to deliver better benefits and lower costs for our clients,” said Jesse Kohl, president of InterLutions. “I-Care is not just helping the bottom line of credit unions; we’re helping them provide better benefits for their employees and family members.
“The 10-year trajectory for healthcare costs is shocking,” Kohl continued. “For many credit unions, the ability to offer top-quality employee benefits––when the cost of maintaining those benefits keeps rising at an alarming pace––has been a near impossible feat.”
Now Available for Smaller CUs
InterLutions launched I-Care in 2015 with its collaborative funding model initially available for credit unions with 50 or more insured employees on their medical plan. The popularity and growth of I-Care has now enabled InterLutions to extend I-Care’s service offerings to smaller credit unions as well, the company said.