Sustainable Benefits for the Future

What does it mean to be Self-Funded?

The health plan that Oklahoma United Methodist Conference offers is called a self-funded health plan. This means the Oklahoma Conference assumes the financial risk associated with providing health care benefits to its employees. Rather than paying fixed premiums to an insurance company, which, in turn, assumes the financial risk, Oklahoma Conference, thru our agreement with Blue Cross & Blue Shield, pays for medical claims out of pocket as they are incurred. Premiums and rates for the Conference plan are determined by plan utilization every year. Every year we only collect what we need to pay for the plan. Because of this it’s important to be a wise health care consumer as our participants are directly responsible for all of the costs associated with the plan.