System for funding, analyzing and managing health care liabilities

• US 5,136,502 A
• Filed: 10/02/1991
• Issued: 08/04/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fred Van Remortal, Stanley H. Clow, Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fred Van Remortel, Stanley H. Clow
• Inventors: Clow, Stanley H., Van Remortel, Fred
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/770,021
• Time in Patent Office: 307 Days
• Field of Search: 364/401, 364/408, 364/413.01
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/10 Tax strategies

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for funding and managing retiree health care benefits. The system employs a VEBA trust which in turn purchases variable life insurance contracts on the lives of a selected group of employees covered by the VEBA trust. The premiums from the life insurance contracts are used as investments, the inside build-up of which are non-taxable under UBIT or AMT. The resulting death benefits are then placed into the trust and are used to pay for the actual health care cost. The funding organization is used in conjunction with a computer system that estimates tax contribution limits of the trust, forecasts the yearly liabilities and premiums to be purchased by the VEBA and estimates tax savings, earnings per share, and determines income sheet statements in accordance with FASB 106.

Claims

1. A retiree group health care benefits computer system, that administers said group health care benefits for at least one employer, on behalf of a plurality of employees of said at least one employer, who are to receive payments for their health care, said computer system comprising:

accounting means for providing accounting evaluations of said health care benefits system;

a VEBA trust administering means, including;

employer contribution limit determining means for analyzing and computing said at least one employer'"'"'s qualified asset account limit contribution to said VEBA trust, wherein said qualified asset account limit includes a qualified direct cost which is the aggregate amount that is allowable as a deduction if said health care benefits are paid on a current basis, a qualified asset account amount which involves the annual additions to be set aside for future medical payments that are incurred but are unpaid including claims incurred but not reported and claims reported but not paid, and an after-tax income of said VEBA trust;

selecting means for selecting certain individuals from said plurality of employees and for determining a policy value for each of a plurality of life insurance policies covering the lives of said selected certain individuals in order to fund a pooled liability of said group health care benefits of said plurality of employees, wherein total premium costs for said plurality of life insurance policies do not substantially exceed said qualified asset account limit contribution;

purchasing means for procuring said plurality of life insurance policies;

collecting means for collecting death benefit proceeds of said purchased plurality of life insurance policies; and

paying means for paying said group health care benefits for said plurality of employees incurring health care costs from said collected death benefit proceeds from said individual life insurance policies for said certain individuals; and

investment means for investing premiums of said procured life insurance policies in at least one of a plurality of investment vehicles, said investment vehicles being manages from within a life insurance company and/or from outside said life insurance company, in order that said at least one investment vehicle produces sufficient cash build up to cover said procured life insurance policies

means for updating keyword modules by appending new words at an end of the fixed order of some but not necessarily all of the plurality of language sub-tables and corresponding keyword modules such that when said language conversion means searches a keyword module in the fixed order, the new words are searched for last and when said language conversion means determines that the input keyword does not exist, the input keyword has not been appended as a new word and the default data is retrieved from the default data module to produce the output language data.

2. The retiree health care benefits computer system of claim 1, further comprising:

projecting means for providing projections of future costs for said plurality of employee'"'"'s health care, qualified tax deductions, and insurance premium values necessary to fund present and future health care costs for said at least one employee.

3. The retiree health care benefits computer system according to claim 2, wherein said projecting means predicts a number of said plurality of employees, based upon employees census data provided to said computer system, who retire by sex and by spouse/dependents.

4. The health care benefits system according to claim 2, wherein said forecasting means predicts an overall health care cost per year for said plurality of employees.

5. The retiree health care benefits computer system of claim 1, wherein said selecting means includes:

employee selection means for selecting said certain individuals of said plurality of employees for life insurance coverage based upon each of said employee'"'"'s age, states of residence and employment and a policy premium value for each of said plurality of life insurance policies.

6. The retiree health care benefits computer system according to claim 1, wherein said accounting means determines, coordinates and calculates information for income statements and balance sheets produced by said accounting means in accordance with FASB regulations pertaining to health care liability reporting standards.

7. A computer system for administering group health care benefits for at least one employer on behalf of a plurality of employees, said system comprising:

accounting means for analyzing performance of an investing means and costs associated with said group health care benefits;

reporting means for providing an accounting report of said performance of said health care benefits system;

determination means for calculating a qualified asset account limit which provides a limit amount for said at least one employer'"'"'s contribution to a VEBA trust, wherein said qualified asset account limit includes a qualified direct cost which is the aggregate amount that is allowable as a deduction if said health care benefits are paid on a current basis, a qualified asset account amount which involves the annual additions to be set aside for future medical payments that are incurred but are unpaid including claims incurred but not reported and claims reported but not paid, and an after-tax income of said VEBA trust, said calculation involving adding said qualified asset account to said qualified direct cost and subtracting said after-tax income of said VEBA trust from the sum of said qualified direct cost and said qualified asset account;

valuation means for determining a policy value for each of at least one variable life insurance policy covering a life of at least one of said plurality of employees to fund a pooled liability of group health care benefits for said plurality of employees, such that a premium for said variable life insurance policy does not substantially exceed said qualified asset account limit;

purchasing means for purchasing said at least one variable life insurance policy in accordance with said at least one policy value;

investing means for investing a premium of said at least one variable life insurance policy in at least one investment vehicle; and

collecting means for collecting death benefit proceeds and collecting earnings gains and losses from period to period of said at least one variable life insurance policy and for placing said collected death benefit proceeds in said VEBA trust and for providing said collected death benefit proceeds to those of said plurality of employees for said group health care expenses.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein said accounting means further comprises:

projecting means for providing projections of factors affecting said VEBA trust;

evaluating means for providing cash-based accounting and accrual based accounting evaluations of the performance of said health care benefits system.

9. The computer system of claim 8, where said accounting means provides said performance accounting in accordance with criteria complying with FASB 106.

10. A computerized retiree health care benefits system that administers group health care benefits on behalf of a plurality of employees, said computerized system comprising:

accounting means for providing accounting evaluations of the performance of said health care benefits system in accordance with FASB 106;

a VEBA trust, said trust including;

limit setting means for computing an employer'"'"'s contribution limit to said VEBA trust which does not exceed a qualified asset account limit for a given year in order to provide a tax deduction for said employer, wherein said qualified asset account amount limit includes a qualified direct cost which is the aggregate amount that is allowable as a deduction if said health care benefits are paid on a current basis, a qualified asset account which involves the annual additions to be set aside for future medical payments that are incurred but are unpaid including claims incurred but not reported and claims reported but not paid, and an after-tax income of said VEBA trust.

analyzing means for selecting a portion of said plurality of employees, and for determining policy values for variable life insurance policies covering the lives of said portion of said plurality of employees to fund a pooled liability of group health care benefits for said plurality of employees,

procuring means for procuring variable life insurance policies covering said lives,

collecting means for collecting death benefit proceeds of said purchased life insurance policies, and

distributing means for paying said health care benefits from said collected death benefit proceeds and from said employer contributions to those of said plurality of employees incurring health care costs; and

investing means for investing premiums of said purchased variable life insurance policies in at least one investment vehicle designated by an employer in order that said investment produces sufficient cash build up to cover said purchased life insurance policies.

11. The computer retiree health care benefits system of claim 10, wherein said contribution determining means further comprises:

adding means for adding the value of said qualified direct cost and the value of said qualified asset account; and

subtracting means for subtracting the value of said after-tax income from said adding means in order to determine said qualified asset account limit.

12. A method for administering health care benefits for an employer on behalf of a plurality of employees using a computer system, said method comprising the steps of:

setting and administering up a VEBA trust, comprising the steps of;

calculating for an employer of said plurality of employees an employer'"'"'s contribution limit to said VEBA trust to not exceed a qualified asset account limit, wherein said qualified asset account limit includes a qualified direct cost which is the aggregate amount that is allowable as a deduction if said health care benefits are paid on a current basis, a qualified asset account amount which involves the annual additions to be set aside for future medical payments that are incurred but are unpaid including claims incurred but not reported and claims reported but not paid, and an after-tax income of said VEBA trust;

determining a policy value for each of a plurality of variable life insurance policies which respectively cover the life of a selected employee to fund a pooled liability of group health care benefits for said plurality of employees;

procuring said determined variable life insurance policies;

collecting death benefit proceeds from said variable life insurance policies; and

distributing said health care benefits from said collected death benefit proceeds and employer contributions;

investing the premiums of said variable life insurance policies purchased by said VEBA trust in at least one investment vehicle; and

accounting, on a cash/accrual basis, the performance of said system in accordance with FASB 106.

13. The method for administering health care benefits of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

projecting health care cost liabilities, qualified tax deductions and insurance premium values to fund present and future health care costs.

14. The method for administering the health care benefits of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

selecting a portion of said plurality of employees for said lives to be insured.

15. The method for administering health care benefits of claim 14, wherein said selecting step selects said employees based upon employee age, state and policy premium value.