The Association of Indiana Counties in conjunction with Apex Benefits Group has rolled out a new program to help Indiana counties reduce their health insurance costs. The new program, called Cost Plus, is an aggressive plan that reimburses health care facilities a reasonable cost but ensures the consumer reimburses an amount related to actual cost of the service.
Most insurance plans offer discounts off of prices that have been increased exorbitant amounts over actual cost. You the consumer never get to see the “mark-up” over actual cost of health care. Read this Indianapolis Star article http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013309140045 to better understand how hospital charges vary widely for the same services.
Cost Plus “negotiates up” from the amount the facility actually incurred to perform a service. Most insurance companies “negotiate discounts down” after a facility has increased its fees hundreds of times above actual cost.
The AIC has been reviewing plans for years on how to help counties reduce their health care cost. We believe we have found a plan that “breaks the mold” on health care reimbursements and puts you, the consumer and health insurance provider, in better control of reimbursement cost. Cass County has been using the plan for 18 months with great success and great savings.
– Excerpt from AIC Newsletter
Editor’s Note: The Association of Indiana Counties appears to work through a Broker of Record. Independent agents who wish to compete for county business, and who may have better plans, will find it tough to compete against this powerful third party endorsement. Since Cost Plus is new to Indiana, we suppose there is little competition in that market for cost plus business. Unlike in Texas there is increasing competition among brokers and third party administrators vying for Cost Plus business. We suspect that Indiana counties are paying high fees for cost plus administration, audits, patient advocacy and legal defense. This provides opportunities for those outcast independent agents to gain new business. Nothing like good old fashion competition. (Note: if you are an agent in Indiana and want to learn more about Cost Plus, write RiskManager@Riskmanagers.us
