Can a mid-size employer do something similar?
Self-funded and level-funded arrangements exist for smaller groups, with stop-loss to limit risk. Whether they fit depends on size, claims history and appetite for variability.
Funding options for smaller employers
GM is self-insured, which means it carries claims risk and pays a carrier to administer the plan. Self-funded and level-funded arrangements exist for smaller groups too, with stop-loss insurance to cap exposure. They suit some employers and not others.
The deciding factors are your size, your claims history and how much month-to-month variability you can absorb. We can model it against your current plan before you decide.
Steps a mid-size employer can take toward alternative funding
A mid-size employer can look at level-funded and self-funded plans, which pay claims directly and use stop-loss insurance to limit large losses. Whether that fits depends on how steady the group’s claims are, how much cash-flow variation the company can absorb, and how much claims data it can obtain.
The sensible sequence is to gather claims reports, test stop-loss quotes at several attachment points, model the downside as well as the expected case, and compare the result with the fully insured renewal. We do that work and show where each option wins and where it carries risk.
Where to go from here
Consider level-funded and self-funded options
When a different funding arrangement is worth testing.
Plan stop-loss alongside the change
How specific and aggregating deductibles behave when a plan changes.
Employee Benefits for Middle-Market Companies
What changes in funding, networks, pharmacy and compliance as an employer grows.
More questions on this topic
Is GM’s move connected to the state’s lawsuit against BCBSM?
The two were reported in the same period.
Does this change BCBSM rates for my group?
Not by itself.
What should we ask before changing carriers?
Which providers stay in network, how pharmacy is handled, what happens to claims in progress, how stop-loss attaches, and what it does to employee costs.
Where these details come from.
Details are from press coverage as of publication. GM’s plan and timing are as reported and may change.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.