Washington – Early Retiree Reinsurance Program
Rising health care costs have made it difficult for employers to provide quality, affordable health insurance for workers and retirees while also remaining competitive in the global marketplace. The percentage of large firms providing workers with retiree health coverage has dropped from 66 percent in 1988 to 29 percent in 2009.1 Health insurance premiums for older Americans are over four times more expensive than they are for young adults,2 and the deductible these enrollees pay is, on average, almost four times that for a typical employer-sponsored insurance plan.3
The Affordable Care Act creates a new program called the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program to help address this challenge that employers and older employees are facing. The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program provides $5 billion in financial assistance to employers and unions to help them maintain coverage for early retirees age 55 and older who are not yet eligible for Medicare.
Businesses, other employers, and unions that are accepted into the program will receive reimbursement for medical claims for early retirees and their spouses, surviving spouses, and dependents. Savings can be used to reduce employer health care costs, provide premium relief to workers and families, or both. Applicants who are approved into the program receive reinsurance for the claims of high-cost retirees and their families (80 percent of the costs from $15,000 to $90,000). The program ends on January 1, 2014 when State health insurance Exchanges are up and running.
HHS has approved the following sponsors from Washington. More applications are being approved each day.
- AGC - international Union of Operating Engineers Local 701 H&W Trust
- Alaska Air Group, Inc.
- Alaska Hotel & Restaurant Employees Health & Welfare Trust
- Alaska Laborers Health and Security Fund
- Alaska Pipetrades Association UA 375 Health and Security Trust Fund
- Alaska United Food and Commercial Workers Health and Welfare Trust
- APA-The Engineered Wood Association
- Association of Washington Cities Employee Benefit
- Avista Corporation
- Carpenters Health & Security Trust of Western Washington
- Cement Masons & Plasterers Health and Welfare Trust
- City of Ellensburg
- City of Everett
- City of Redmond
- City Of Renton
- City of Richland
- City of Seattle
- City of Seattle Police Relief and Pension Fund
- CITY OF SPOKANE
- City of Tukwila
- City of Yakima
- Clark County Public Utility Dist #1
- Clearwater Paper Corporation
- County of Cowlitz Public Utility Dist.1
- County of Pierce
- County of Whatcom
- Cowles Company
- Employee Painters' Health and Welfare Plan
- Fibre Federal Credit Union
- Green Diamond Resource Company
- Group Health Cooperative
- Group Health Permanente, PC
- Hanford Employee Welfare Trust
- Horizon Air Industries, Inc.*
- L.E.O.F.F.Health and Welfare Trust
- Laborers-AGC Trust of Montana
- Local 191 IBEW Health and Welfare Trust
- Locals 302&612 of the Int'l Union of Operating Engineers Construction Industry Hlth & Security Fund
- Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging, Inc.
- Machinists Health and Welfare Trust Fund
- Masonry Security Plan of Washington
- Mission Support Alliance, LLC
- Montana Operating Engineers Const & Mining Ind Health & welfare Trust
- Montana Retail Employees Health and Welfare Trust
- Mound Welfare Benefits Trust
- Northwest Ironworkers Health and Security Trust
- Northwest Laborers-Employers Health & Security Trust
- Northwest Metal Crafts Trust Fund
- Northwest Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry Health
- Northwest Sheet Metal Workers Welfare Fund
- PACCAR Inc
- Parker Smith & Feek, inc
- PEACEHEALTH
- Port Townsend Paper Corporation
- Potlatch Corporation
- Premera Blue Cross
- Public Utility District #1 of Chelan County
- Public Utility District #1 of Lewis County
- Public Utility District #1 of Snohomish County
- Puget Sound Electrical Workers Health and Welfare
- Puget Sound Energy, Inc.
- Red Dot Corporation
- RETAIL CLERKS RETIREE WELFARE TRUST
- Rocky Flats Employee Welfare Trust
- SEATTLE AREA PLUMBERS H & W PLAN
- Seattle Fire Fighters Union Local 27 Welfare Trust
- Simpson Investment Company
- The City of Tacoma
- Tree Top, Inc.
- Washington Counties Insurance Pool
- Washington State Health Care Authority
- Washington Teamsters Welfare Trust
- Washington Trust Bank
- Washington-Idaho Operating Engineers-Employers Health & Security Tru
- Weinstein Beverage Company Employee Health Care Plan
- Western Teasmters Welfare Trust
- Weyerhaeuser Company
*New program participants as of May 24, 2011. List to be updated monthly.
[1] Kaiser / HRET. Employer Health Benefits: 2009 Survey.
[2] Center for Policy and Research. Individual Health Insurance 2009.
[3] Kaiser Family Foundation. 2010. Survey of People Who Purchase Their Own Insurance.