“A self-insured health plan,” writes Dave Chase in The Opioid Crisis Wake-Up Call, “is established when an employer sets aside some of its funds to pay for employees’ medical expenses. Employees then contribute to the plan rather than pay traditional premiums.”
In the United States, it is not uncommon for large employers to chose to be self-insured rather than to offer health insurance provided directly through an insurance carrier such as Cigna or Anthem. Chase explains that self-insured plans shift risk from the insurance carrier to the employer, with the benefit of reduced administrative costs and changed financial incentives. Large carriers are often still contracted with in a self-insured system for some administration and bill paying functions. In a traditional relationship, as Chase explains, employees pay premiums and “if the premiums exceed the medical expenses, the carrier wins.” Self-insuring eliminates this aspect of health insurance, reducing the total amount that employees should need to contribute by eliminating a profit motive for the carrier.
Chase highlights another benefit of choosing to self-insure, lower taxes and fewer regulations to abide by. In the United States, each state has an insurance commission that sets its own standards and requirements for insurance (auto, home, medical, etc…). The benefit according to Chase is that, “the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 [ERISA] states that a private, self-insured health plan is administered in accordance with its [ERISA’s] terms and federal rules. So, these plans aren’t subject to conflicting state health insurance regulations or benefit mandates.”
This is an important point that I have been thinking about in Nevada. My state requires that health insurance cover ABA treatment for children with Autism until they turn 21. However, not all of the plans that Nevadan’s have through their employers actually cover ABA treatment and some only cover ABA treatment until a child is 7 years old. While selling insurance across state lines (as in buying an insurance plan sold in California and according to California statutes and regulations) is not legal, offering a plan from a self-insured employer based in another state is legal. Some employers in Nevada are very large, are self-insured, and have headquarters based outside the state. These plans are not subject to the changing health insurance demands of every state since they are regulated by ERISA. So many Nevadans, despite state law, do not have coverage for their child’s ABA therapy.
It is important to note that self-insuring can reduce costs for employers, give them more control over the plan they design for employees, and can offer tax advantages along with easier implementation by reducing regulations and applicable laws. Employers should move in this direction to create better health plans that give them better access to their own data and needs. At the same time, we should recognize that these types of plans can be hard to regulate and present challenges to patients, employees, and lawmakers who want to see specific changes or policies. Employers should strongly consider self-insuring to get away from the profit motive of health insurance carriers, but should recognize that avoiding individual state health insurance requirements by self-insuring could lead to a backlash against self-insured health plans.
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