A member health plan at Land O’Lakes co-operative in the USA to meet members’ healthcare needs has tripled enrolment in its second year.
Piloted in Minnesota last year, the plan has now been expanded to Nebraska and sees the co-op working with Gravie, a health insurance marketplace in Minneapolis.
The number of farmer owned co-ops participating in the plan grew from 12 to 45 over the last 12 months. Land O’Lakes also enables co-op members to offer the Land O’Lakes Cooperative Farmer Member Health Plan to their employees.
“We’re seeing first-hand the relief this plan is bringing farming families who have had limited, costly health insurance options in the past” said Ari Beilin, strategic account manager of the plan. “We want to give as many eligible members as possible a chance to enrol.”
Pamela Grove, senior director of benefits at Land O’Lakes said: “For years Land O’Lakes has recognised the need for affordable, comprehensive health care options for our producers and farmers. Now we have an option for those in Minnesota and Nebraska.
“We know that our co-op members see the importance of this offering, given that so many have opted to participate and provide access to these benefit plans for their member farmers.”
Land O’Lakes plans to expand the plan further in 2020. The co-op is the first organisation to sponsor a self-insured multi-state group health plan under new Association Health Plan (AHP) Regulations adopted last summer.
AHPs qualify as large group plans and can negotiate with insurers or healthcare providers on behalf of the entire group, which enables these to obtain lower premium rates.
In 2011 Land O’Lakes sponsored a fully insured plan to certain agriculture member co-ops who wished to offer coverage to their employees. This plan now covers nearly 12,000 individuals in 13 states.
Land O’Lakes is one of the nation’s largest co-operatives. In 2017 it reported annual sales of US $14bn (£10.71bn).
