ANNUAL CHECK UP
Self-insurer doing well after ten years in business.
Amy Manning, Executive Director of III-A Trust, provided a yearly update of the company’s status to the March 3 meeting of the Salmon City Council. The city is a member of the Trust which handles the city’s health insurance needs.
She said III-A Trust, pronounced triple I-A Trust, is a self-funded Trust which has just celebrated its the tenth anniversary and they are happy to have the city of Salmon as one of their agencies. Manning said the purpose of the update is to look at the preceding year to see how the Trust is performing. The report presented to the council members featured a current list of partnering agencies, a list of staff members, the Board of Trustees membership and consultants.
Manning said they increased the number of agencies last year by 20 percent and the employee count increased by 41.9 percent indicating the Trust’s substantial growth. Forty-four agencies inquired about the trust last year and 12 of them became members. Not everyone is accepted by the Trust. Applicants have to go through a stringent risk assessment review before acceptance. Two of the current participating agencies added dental coverage and one added vision services to improve their employee’s coverage. She said the goal of the Trust is to create the best benefit plans that they can by pooling together and making the services affordable. In turn the agencies can give affordable coverage to their employees.
She said the Trust’s budget increased by 49 percent last year. The budget comes from member contributions. The information presented also included what the Trust paid in medical claims last year, how much was paid for the two catastrophic insurance policies required by the state of Idaho for all self-funded companies plus the details of the Trust’s banking information.
Manning said the trust’s surplus has increased over the last five years which was done purposely by the Board of Trustees which has been trained to put a little aside for the proverbial rainy day, such as the pandemic. They did use part of those funds last year because of the state’s financial uncertainties caused by the pandemic. Manning said the tele-help 24-hour program established in 2020 was very successful. There were no members in intensive care last year due to COVID-19 however the trust covered 100 percent of pandemic related costs. As of November, the Trust had spent $800,000 in treatment of COVID-19. They submitted a report of expenditures to the state COVID-19 Advisory committee and the committee agreed to reimburse the funds with federal funds. They also reimbursed the state of Idaho for their insurance plan and Manning said that was very helpful since their expenses were quite significant.
One thing discovered last year was the need for mental health coverage and providers. The Trust is evaluating the statewide need and mental health is in the top five of critical illness expenses.
She explained that the trust contracts with Blue Cross of Idaho for administrative services and it should be explained to employees that they are not covered by Blue Cross. III-A Trust is the self-funded insurance carrier and any questions should be directed to it.
Manning said the trust has been able to negotiate lower administrative and pharmaceutical costs which will help lower Trust expenses this coming year.
Overall, she said the review shows that the III-ATrust is performing very well.