Health Plan Savings, Transparency, and Stability for ESOP Companies
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM CDT
Location: Baird Ballroom D | Demo Stage
CE: 1
CE Type: SHRM Education Level: For All Levels
Rising health insurance costs are a challenge for ESOP companies nationally. In 2021 OWN Health was launched to allow ESOP companies take advantage of their superior demographics and employee engagement focus to “swim in a cleaner pool” through an ESOP-only health insurance captive program. The financial results since program inception reinforce the premise that member ESOP companies spend less on healthcare and enjoy more stable rates compared to other self-funded employers, when given the tools and support to implement cost control and health improvement strategies. For this presentation, we’ll focus on four specific drivers of program success. We will be joined on the panel by OWN Health member companies, who will provide specific examples and case study results from their experience in the captive program to highlight how OWN Health improved their financial outcomes as well as the health of their employee-owners and their families. The four focus areas are: • Aggregation: Through aggregation of members, the captive vehicle allows employers to access health management programming and pharmacy solutions not available to individual mid-sized employers on their own due to vendor size constraints. In addition, aggregation allows for program pricing to be negotiated on a volume basis. • Transparency and access to data: Captive members have access to their program data to help them better plan and manage plan performance. Additionally, integrated tools that analyze this data and provide access to third-party programming empower employee-owners to make better decisions about their care and control their out-of-pocket expenses. • Access to coalition programs: These programs are ways to lower out-of-pocket costs and improve health outcomes through improved pricing terms, enhanced decision-making tools, and member concierge services. • Community engagement: Captives foster and encourage engagement of the members to share best practices in the areas of benefit design, employee communications, wellness and financial health, just to name a few. Captives support this collaboration by establishing a structure for best practices and a venue where employers can share experiences and outcomes through annual and quarterly meetings.
Understand how health insurance captive programs work and why employee-owned companies are a good fit for this alternative financing model.
List the benefits of captive membership to the ESOP organization and its employee-owners.
Be familiar with specific examples from the experience of OWN Health member companies, which highlight the opportunity for health plan savings and improved employee-owner health provided by the captive program.
