MUSKEGO, Wis.—When Corporate Central CU talked to its member CUs about their biggest concerns, it wasn’t when rates might rise or margin pressures: it was healthcare costs. In response, it has introduced a health insurance solution it says “bends the cost curve.”
In launching InterLutions LLC, a CUSO that focuses on business solutions for credit unions, Corporate Central CU is addressing healthcare services first, saying that’s where its member CUs need the most help.
As CUToday.info previously reported, I-Care is the CUSO's first product launch, an offering aimed at helping CUs reduce volatility and expenses associated with health insurance by pooling risk.
Corporate Central EVP Chris Felton said more InterLutions efforts will be introduced in the coming years, but the focus right now is on the health insurance initiative.
Council Drives Direction
“What we offer will be driven a lot by our member advisory council and the marketplace,” said Felton. “We are evaluating a number of different products and services, again looking at how a collaborative model, like I-Care, can benefit our members.”
The I-Care initiative began about two years ago when advisory council discussions turned to the biggest challenges facing Corporate Central members.
Robert Fouch
“Health insurance was at the top of the list,” said Felton.
Since setting out to create I-Care, Felton said there have also been discussions about additional employee benefits services, as well and vendor management and enterprise risk management. “It’s a pretty wide list now,” said Felton. “But I-Care is taking a lot of our time because we want to ensure a successful launch.”
I-Care is expected to debut Jan. 1, 2016, timed to when most CU health insurance renewals begin. Felton said the effort will launch with a minimum of five credit unions, but expects there could be as many as 14 to start—the number in the latest pilot group.
“All of these credit unions have expressed a strong interest in the program,” said Felton.
Once the core group of credit unions is up and running, Felton said I-Care will be opened to any credit union in the country that has a minimum of 50 covered employees.
Comprehensive Services
According to Corporate Central President/CEO Robert Fouch, who is also chairman of InterLutions, the scope of services available through I-Care "are significantly more than any individual credit union with 50 or more employees could offer on their own. These comprehensive services are typically only offered to Fortune 500 employers. We have assembled a world-class team providing best-in-class services to help credit unions design, manage, and administer their health benefits program while staying up-to-date with the most recent regulation and compliance changes."
A group medical program provides analytics and various risk management strategies for CUs that are fully insured or self-insured, and Fouch said CUs should be able to provide better coverage and reduce costs with I-Care.
“Launching InterLutions and I-Care has been, from day one, all about listening to credit unions and understanding some of their biggest challenges,” Fouch said.
“This bends the cost curve,” Fouch said. “Member credit unions will be able to provide better coverage and reduce costs.”
Felton said the significant CU interest in health insurance emphasizes their “benevolent nature,” wanting to continue to offer value-added benefits to employees.
No Health Insurance Exhanges
“They don’t want to just turn them over to the exchanges,” said Felton. “And, by nature, credit unions are collaborative. So we took that message and started working with a partner of ours, Lockton, the largest privately held insurance broker in the world. We talked to them about looking at ways to reskin this health insurance cat a bit.”
Felton said one of the biggest advantages for CUs with I-Care is that to be part of the large risk pool the CUs in the pool don’t have the same, or even similar, benefit plan design.
“There are models in the past where groups of credit unions have banded together and approached a health insurer with group buying power,” said Felton. “Why these arrangements have not been that successful is because to truly lower costs the CUs in the group, for the most part, have to have the same benefit design. That can be very difficult to do. With I-Care, credit unions retain their plan design, and for the most part, retain their current networks.”