About

Healthy Communities Cooperative (HCC) is organized for the following purpose:

  • To ensure members become better informed about health care trends and cost increases;
  • To ensure all members receive their health care benefits under the same group health insurance policy;
  • To ensure the members are actively engaged in designing health care benefit options that are offered by the insurer and that meet the needs of the members;
  • To ensure the health insurance risk of all members is pooled;
  • To ensure the members actively participate in health improvement decisions for the cooperative;
  • To work with the HCC Board of Directors and its successors to provide affordable quality health insurance options for its members; and
  • For any other lawful purpose under Chapter 185 of the Wisconsin Statutes.

Eligibility Requirements

  • The cooperative’s employer members must, at a minimum, meet the following criteria:
  • Be a member of the Healthy Communities Cooperative;
  • Be a member of a participating Chamber of Commerce;
  • Be an employer with a minumum of one (1) full-time employee (can be self-employed). Full-time is defined as working a minimum of thirty (30) hours per week;
  • Be an employer who cintributes at least 50% of the single premium towards their employee’s health insurance coverage;
  • Dependent children are eligible until age 19, if they are at least 50% financially dependent upon parent (until age 25 if child is a full-time student).

Enrollment Provisions

  • There will be open enrollment for the health insurance.
  • Employees enrolling in the health insurance must participate in the Health Risk Assessment.
  • HCC members must pay monthly cooperative dues of $12 per employee per month. The cooperative dues will be collected with the monthly premium and the insurance carrier will reimburse the dues to HCC.
  • Employer members are required to enroll in the HCC and sign a three-year insurance agreement.

Underwriting Provisions

  • HCC is committed to mandatory wellness requirements, which we believe are integral to stabilizing the pool and providing rate stability.
  • Employer groups will be guaranteed issue coverage, but will be underwritten and their rates based on medicial information within their own group. At renewal, the HCC member groups will be reviewed in a pool.

Rating & Renewal Provisions

The opportunity to stabilize future rate increases, where the increases are not expected to exceed a targeted percent is our ultimate goal. The hope is to create a healthier population within the HCC, thus driving down utilization, which will result in better than market renewals. Rates will be age/gender-rated for employer groups of 1-25 and composite-rated for groups of 26+. Groups of 16-25 could choose either age/gender or composite. Employers will be placed in a “tier”, according to their risk. The desire to mitigate future rate increases is a major objective of HCC.

Benefit Plan Design A variety of benefit plans will be offered including both PPO and Health Savings Account compatible High Deductible Health Plans. A broad network and a narrow network will be available. HCC Purpose Document