May 8, 2023 marks MedBen’s 85th anniversary of serving the health benefit needs of employers across the country. As such, it’s an opportune time to reflect, while also looking forward.
MedBen’s growth over the decades has coincided with the evolution in group health insurance, progressing from hospital coverage with limited, set benefits to expansive self-funding services that give employers a high degree of flexibility:
- Starting business as Hospital Service Association of Licking County (later HSA of Ohio), we offered group insurance for hospital room and board only – no doctor’s bills covered.
- In 1987, we became Medical Benefits Mutual, providing employers with comprehensive major medical coverage. This was followed by prescription drug benefits and optional vision and dental plans (VisionPlus and MedBen PreceDent).
- And in 1990, we introduced our self-funding services subsidiary Medical Benefits Administrators, which today makes up our largest block of business.
There’s much more to the story… MedBen Rx pharmacy solutions, WellLiving wellness programs emphasizing proactive care, FSAs and HRAs, COBRA administration, and most recently, direct-to employer contracting and other alternative reimbursement strategies. All these businesses operate today under the MedBen umbrella.
With this growth came a realization: The best way to ensure that employers offer plans that best suit their employees’ needs is to have them be active participants in design and benefit changes. It’s also the most effective way to keep costs as low as possible. “The voice of the customer” has, more than ever, been critical to our mutual success.
In the coming months and years, MedBen will continue to look for new and improved ways to serve clients. Key to this is focusing on those areas there is potential for better care at a better cost, such as greater transparency in medical pricing and taking a high value approach to pharmacy benefits (more on that in the upcoming Client Report).
Our 1938 team would no doubt be surprised at some of the changes to MedBen over the past 85 years, but hopefully they would agree that we have stayed true to our mission of being “the benefits partner that employers prefer.”
Whether we have worked together for a short time or for decades, we thank you for our continued relationship, and we will strive to earn your business for many years to come.