Two years ago we assisted a 3,500 life restuarant chain in designing a self-funded mini-med program for their hourly employees. The plan offers a $20 physician co-pay, a prescription drug card (not a discount card), 80% coverage up to an annual calendar year maximum of $2,500 per insured. Plan benefit payments use 2007 RBRVS as a benchmark. Plan participatants pay $50 per month while the employer contributes an additional $50 per month per participant. Paid claim loss ratio has been consistantly below 40%.
We have two other accounts on a similar program. One is a long haul trucking firm and the other is a political subdivision located in Texas. The trucking firm has an annual plan limit of $25,000, while the political subdivision has no annual plan limit. Both plans have funding levels of approximately $100 pepm which has proven to be adequate to cover the expense of the plan.
This should give the reader some idea of what a mini-med plan should cost in view of the benefits offered. There are numerous fully-insured mini-med plans in the market for those employers not comfortable with assuming any risk. The best fully-insured mini-med plan we have seen has no deductibles, no co-pays and simply pays 100% of Medicare allowable up to $25,000 per calendar year – all for about $128 per employee per month. And, if you realize that less than 4% of any insured group have claims in excess of $25,000, this may be a very good option for the majority of the participants in the plan. A premium of $128 versus $500 we have seen for a conventional plan, could be affordable for many employers now struggling with the high cost of group health insurance.
