INSURANCE SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20090216567A1
• Filed: 04/20/2009
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Larry R. Dust, Wallace T. Gray
• Original Assignee: Larry R. Dust, Wallace T. Gray
• Inventors: Gray, Wallace T., Dust, Larry R.
• Application Number:
  US12/426,944
• Publication Number:
  US 20090216567A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

An insurance benefit plan is disclosed including one or more insurance modules whereby at least one of the insurance modules is a limited medical benefit program.

Claims

1. A method of controlling employer costs associated with a benefit plan over a prior benefit plan having a prior benefit plan employer cost, the method comprising the step of:

providing a combined benefit plan having at least two benefit modules, a first benefit module being a major medical benefit module and a second benefit module being a limited medical benefit module, the combined benefit plan is structured to have a lower employer cost than the prior benefit plan employer cost.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of pricing the limited medical benefit module to generate a reserve of assets resulting in the lower employer cost.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a difference between the prior employer cost and the lower employer cost is used to increase a group of benefits provided by at least one of the benefit modules of the benefit plan without increasing the cost to an insured employee.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a difference between the prior employer cost and the lower employer cost is used to decrease an employee contribution to at least one of the at least two benefit modules.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the benefit plan is a self-funded benefit plan.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the lower employer cost is generally equal to zero.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a second benefit module of the benefit plan is a major medical benefit module.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a first group of employee contributions related to the first benefit module from a first group of employees enrolled in the first benefit module; and

receiving a second group of employee contributions related to the second benefit module from a second group of employees enrolled in the second benefit module;

wherein the lower employer cost is the result of the first group of employee contributions being set to exceed a first group of benefit distributions related to the first group of employees.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the first group of employee contributions and the second group of employee contributions are made as pre-tax contributions.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein both of the first group of employee contributions and the second group of employee contributions are made as pre-tax contributions.