Iowa Employer Coalition
Employee benefit solutions for Iowa businesses and organizations designed to engage your employees, enhance understanding and help them make smarter choices.
Employee Benefits Solutions for Iowa Employers
You care about your employees. And, you understand them. You know they have bills to pay, families to support and futures to plan. So you work hard every day to deliver benefits that help them stay secure. But providing quality health benefits is hard. Rates are unstable. Renewals are stressful. Health and pharmacy costs go up every year. You want to make decisions that impact costs. You want more time, more data and more insight. You want employees to understand their benefits and use them wisely. In short, you want to take control of your health care future. We hear you. That’s why we’ve created the Employer Coalition.
The Employer Coalition is backed by two of the most respected entities in the insurance industry: AssuredPartners, who coordinates the coalition, and Wellmark® Blue Cross® and Blue Shield®, who administers the plans.
Our team at AssuredPartners has years of experience with multiple-employer pools. We manage and consult two of the few self-funded MEWA plans in Iowa, and we consult one of the only cooperatives in the state and the largest PEO in the Midwest.
Wellmark is well-known for its stability, ease of member experience and for the depth and breadth of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield network.
The Employer Coalition is an insurance program for fully insured Iowa businesses and organizations who want to work together to make health benefits sustainable for everyone involved.
It's built on three big ideas:
- Pooling
Participating groups benefit from the stability of a pooled product.
- Health Care Consumerism
Plans, tools and Initiatives to help employees make choices that drive down costs.
- Collective Decision-Making
Employers collaborated on shaping benefits with insight and guidance from the insurance professionals at AssuredPartners.
The Employer Coalition is for fully insured Iowa employers who are actively engaged in providing quality health benefits to their employees — and who are looking for new solutions to increase stability and control costs.
It may be right for you if:
- You’re a fully insured Iowa employer with 51 – 500 employees
- You want more control over decisions that impact health costs
- You’re committed to providing quality health benefits and willing to pay at least 50% of the total plan premium
- You understand change doesn’t happen overnight and therefore agree to participate for at least 3 years
- You’re open to working with other like-minded employers to collectively drive down costs
To think beyond your current coverage situation takes a leap of faith.
Fortunately, the Employer Coalition is powered by two of the most respected entities in the insurance industry. At AssuredPartners, we coordinate the coalition and provide thought leadership, consultation and guidance. The health plan itself is administered by Wellmark® Blue Cross® and Blue Shield®. As the largest health insurer in Iowa and South Dakota, Wellmark has a long-cultivated reputation for stability and ease of member experience. As part of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, they are sought out for the depth and breadth of their network, with coverage at 96 percent of hospitals and 95 percent of physicians nationwide.
Employer Advantages
As an Employer Coalition participant, you’ll enjoy more time, more stability and more opportunities to have a voice in cost-saving decisions. Here’s what you get when you join — and why it’s a smart investment of your time and resources that puts you in control.
Pooling with like-minded employers
Insurance pooling is when a group of companies join together to secure better rates and coverage plans. By participating in the Employer Coalition, you’ll be able to leverage the collective buying power of the larger group, so your company will see more stable rates in the long run.
Early renewals for more thoughtful planning
As a participant, you’ll have four months to plan, budget and make decisions for the coming year, rather than the 60 days you have now.
Reporting and data with analysis from AssuredPartners
With the size of the Employer Coalition’s member pool, participants will have access to tools and trends like never before, all backed by insights and analysis from our experts at AssuredPartners.
Collective decision-making power
With our expert guidance, you’ll meet with fellow stakeholders and work together to develop strategies that encourage consumerism and drive down costs.
Employee Advantages
When you join the Employer Coalition, your people benefit, too. They’ll be able to choose plans and find care that fits their needs — and make smarter choices that improve your bottom line.
Consumerism-based plans for smarter use and simplified coverage
Studies show most Americans don’t understand their health insurance. This can lead to expensive mistakes and lots of confused employees in your office.
With the Employer Coalition, your people get simplified coverage with plans that drive good decisions... and that are easy for your people to use, understand and appreciate.
Tools that drive cost-saving decisions
Even with simplified coverage options, employees need on demand support to make smart choices that affect their health — and their pocketbooks.
With consumerism tools and information at their fingertips, they’ll be able to seek out the right care at the right cost, leading to better outcomes for them and a lower overall health care spend for you.
Communication initiatives for more engagement and less disruption
Communicating with employees about benefits can be challenging: Most employers don’t have the time and resources to spare.
The Employer Coalition participants get easy-to-understand communication materials that educate employees about benefits and prepare them for any changes ahead.
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