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Higginbotham outlines benefits cooperative, voluntary plans and administrative services to Freestone County
Summary
Higginbotham representatives presented a voluntary governmental benefits cooperative for counties and cities, describing voluntary ancillary plans, enrollment technology, billing/reconciliation services, a proposed interlocal agreement and a board structure; commissioners asked about medical-plan integration and RFP implications.
Higginbotham representatives presented a proposal for a governmental benefits cooperative that would provide voluntary ancillary plans (dental, vision, life, short-term and long-term disability, accident and other worksite products), enrollment technology and back-office administration to Freestone County employees.
"We are a private company," Higginbotham presenter Frank Hazani said during the presentation, and he introduced his colleague Jim Cook. The presenters described a Richardson, Texas-based public-sector operation with a proprietary enrollment platform (Benefits Hub), an employee response center, a benefits mobile app and a six-person service team to handle administration, billing and reconciliation at no direct charge to the county. They said Higginbotham is paid through industry-standard commissions from carriers.
Jim Cook, the presentation’s medical-practice leader, described quarterly claims reporting and underwriting projections that brokers provide to help predict renewals. Cook said that prescription costs are a major driver of medical-plan spending and outlined options including bundled or unbundled pharmacy benefit-manager (PBM) arrangements if a jurisdiction moved from fully insured to self-funded approaches.
Higginbotham said its voluntary cooperative already has municipal and school-district members and noted historical scale: the voluntary co-op model on the school-district side began with roughly 144 employees and has grown to about 15,000 lives in total across multiple cooperatives. The presenters said seven cities and counties were currently in the voluntary benefits cooperative (about 1,200–1,500 lives) and they expected additional public entities to join at the next renewal, which would increase participation and improve rates, the presenters said.
The broker proposed joining via an interlocal agreement and said that participation would satisfy state procurement/RFP regulations for the voluntary benefits covered by the cooperative, removing the need for the county to run separate RFPs for those products. The presenters also proposed an operational board (chair, vice chair, secretary and at-large members) made up of participating jurisdictions to oversee the cooperative and negotiate plan design changes on members’ behalf.
County commissioners asked whether the county could join the cooperative for voluntary benefits without moving its medical plan to Higginbotham; the presenters responded that mixing the cooperative’s voluntary benefits with a separate medical carrier could become "clunky," and they advised the county that, operationally, full enrollment integration works best. When asked directly whether the county could have the voluntary program without Higginbotham managing medical enrollment, the presenter replied, "I'm gonna say no," explaining administrative complexity and past experience.
Higginbotham offered an example of billing and reconciliation capacity — the firm said it reconciles billing for clients of several thousand employees quickly — and noted optional features such as a 457 retirement program (the RISE program) that can be captured through their enrollment platform. They provided commissioners with an interlocal template and operational procedures and offered to supply additional copies and follow-up data requests to analyze the county’s current claims and renewal outlook.
No formal action was taken during the presentation; commissioners indicated interest and asked follow-up questions about costs, enrollment mechanics and integration with the county’s existing UnitedHealthcare medical plan.
