The Maryland Local Government Health Cooperative, a county and municipal program sponsored by LGIT and operated by Benecon (both MACo corporate partners), was profiled in a recent offering from the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal, profiling Benecon President Matthew Kirk.
The Benecon Group serves as a general agent to major (insurance) carriers in Central Pennsylvania. We are a general agent for Highmark, Capital BlueCross, UnitedHealthcare, Health America and other carriers.
In addition, we have a significant self-funded health consortium business, whereby we develop and administer self-funded health benefit consortiums for a broad range of employer groups in both the public sector and private sector.
The reason for rapid growth in the consortium business is the macro movement from employers who had been fully insured to exploring the self-funded marketplace. The Benecon financing model has proven an attractive option for those employers.
The foundation of the consortium business, which dates back to 1991, was the public sector. Today we run 13 self-funded health benefit consortiums, which are split about 50/50 between the public and private sector.
Kirk also speaks specifically to the model used in the Maryland Co-op, where governments that may not have the capacity or desire to become fully self-insured may seek many of the benefits of that approach through the co-op approach:
For those employers large enough to self fund, they need to find a self-funding mechanism. We believe it is our aggregated consortium model, which allows them to have transparency to see where they are actually spending their dollars, and that transparency will allow them to take control of actual health care spending year to year.
For more information on the LGIT/Benecon Health Co-Op for Maryland local goernments, visit the LGIT website, or view an online video presentation that details its operation and benefits.
