Your employees are your best assets, and protecting them and their families provides long-term benefits to your company. Lyman & Sheets has expertise in evaluating and designing new programs to assure your company’s financial health and the well-being of your employees.

Self-Funding

Self-funding, or self-insurance, is an arrangement by which an employer provides insurance benefits to employees with its own funds.  Self-funding differs from fully insured plans where an employer contracts with an insurance company to provide coverage to employees and dependents. 

Many employers have turned toward self-funding because it can:

• control the cost of health care, dental care, and disability insurance
• combat premium expenditure and insurance carrier fees
• help reduce and manage health care costs without disrupting the delivery of health care to employees
• allow employers to develop plan designs to meet their needs without conforming to the state-mandated features of a fully insured healthcare program

Although self-funded programs create a financial liability for the employer, this liability can be minimized through the purchase of a stop-loss policy.  The stop-loss policy will protect the employer from assuming the full risk of an extreme claim or severe utilization.  Stop-loss coverage will provide protection to the employer above a certain predetermined dollar amount.

Effective self-funded employers take initiative in promoting a safe and healthy environment for their employees.  Employers promoting a tobacco-free environment, disease management counseling, on-site preventative care, and a wellness program stand to gain the most success from a long-term self-funded health insurance arrangement.