Health & Welfare Plans
Foster & Foster specializes in health and welfare plans! Our team of skilled consultants and actuaries provide consulting services to many health plans across the country covering more than one million members and their families. Most client service teams have over 100 years of combined consulting experience and are designed around our clients’ needs.
We have separated our health and welfare practice into four (4) distinct areas:
Church Plans
Foster & Foster works with many clients that administer church plans including:
- Association of churches (different denominations)
- Church-affiliated organizations (same/different denomination)
- Church missionary groups
- Convention of churches (same denomination)
- Multi-employer church plan providers
- Single ministry churches
Church plans have stabilized while growing in number following the Supreme Court ruling (2017) that allowed church-affiliated organizations such as hospitals, schools, and non-profits to maintain ERISA-exempt church plans. Foster & Foster understands this growing market thoroughly, and we have assisted our Church plan clients address many specific challenges these plans encounter including:
- Financial constraints
- Governance and fiduciary best practices
- Limited economies of scale
- More flexibility but less regulatory structure
- Risk pooling/consortium strategies
- Sensitivity to mission, ethics, and value-driven decision-making
Corporate Plans
Foster & Foster provides consulting services to many corporate health and welfare plans across all industries including:
- Communication
- Financial services
- Healthcare
- Manufacturing
- Service sector
- Technology
- Wholesale/retail
As our clients’ corporate plans are governed by ERISA and typically sponsored by for-profit companies, Foster & Foster has developed numerous solutions focused on compliance, cost control, and employee attraction/retention. We have helped our corporate clients face many challenges including rising healthcare costs, workforce diversity, designing benefits to attract talent, ACA compliance (grandfathering), and data consolidation across different vendors/demographics. Foster & Foster has developed specific solutions that appeal to our Corporate clients including:
- Advanced analytics and reporting
- Communications material
- Cost containment strategies
- Employee engagement strategies
- Tailored compliance support
- Vendor management
Public Sector Plans
Foster & Foster provides consulting services to many public sector clients that sponsor health and welfare plans across a variety of agency types. This includes:
- Authorities (various)
- City governments
- County governments
- Group purchasing associations or organizations
- Special districts (various)
- State governments
- Transportation agencies
As our clients’ public sector plans are sponsored by state, local, or federal entities, they are subject to public accountability, budgetary cycles, and usually have several unions/collective bargaining agreements to manage.
Foster & Foster has helped our public sector clients face unique challenges that require specific expertise including:
- Budgetary constraints
- Collective bargaining agreements
- Complex stakeholder environment (taxpayers, unions, management, employees)
- Governance structures/decision-making processes
- Legacy plan designs, systems, MOUs, and/or inflexible plan structures
- Long-term financial planning
- Population health management
- Procurement difficulties
No matter the size, complexity, or structure of a public sector health plan, Foster & Foster has the experience and long-term track record to deliver robust solutions to even the most complex challenges.
Foster & Foster Core Methodology
Foster & Foster has a dedicated team of consultants, actuaries, and pharmacy specialists who work extensively with the various health and welfare plan types. We develop client service plans based upon our core methodology. We focus on:
- Collaborative working style: Frequent communication, clear priorities, and direct access to senior actuaries and consultants to ensure seamless partnership and fast issue resolution.
- Data analysis: Evaluation of medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, and ancillary claims, vendor pricing structures, and utilization patterns to identify savings and improvement opportunities.
- Health improvement strategies: Identification of key health conditions and cost drivers and development of targeted programs to improve outcomes and reduce long-term costs.
- Plan design review: Assessment of current benefit designs to ensure competitiveness, cost-effectiveness, and strong alignment with strategic goals.
- Vendor accountability: Ongoing monitoring of vendor performance through measurable benchmarks, service levels, and trend analysis.
Foster & Foster Projects & Solutions
Foster & Foster’s experience has contributed to our clients’ success through a range of different projects and solutions including:
- Claims analysis & repricing
- Compliance support
- Cost management strategies
- Employee benefit surveys & focus groups
- Financial oversight & reporting
- IBNR reserve studies
- Implementation assistance
- Plan design evaluation
- Rate setting (including financial projections and contribution modeling)
- Vendor roundtable/townhall meetings
Plans for Taft Hartley and Union Groups
At Foster & Foster, we stand with labor. We do not just consult for labor groups, we understand them. Our team of consultants, clinicians, and actuaries possesses deep-rooted knowledge of the men and women who built and continue to serve this country.
We are proud to represent hard-working Americans across a diverse range of trades and union groups, including:
- AFSCME
- Bricklayers
- Carpenters
- Cement Masons
- Firefighters
- IBEW
- Ironworkers
- IUOE
- Laborers
- Painters
- Pipefitters
- Plasterers
- Plumbers
- Police
- SMART
- Stagehands
- Steamfitters
- TCU
- Teachers
- Teamsters
- UAW
- UFCW
- USW
- Wood Finishers
Specialized Expertise for Multi-employer Plans
Multi-employer health and welfare plans operate in a unique environment thanks to labor management, regulatory complexity, and unique administrative structures. We provide the specialized oversight necessary to protect these funds and their members. For example, we offer:
- Clinical excellence: In-depth medical and pharmacy consulting led by staff pharmacists and clinicians (including MD).
- Modernization: Long-term cost management and benefit updates to keep plans sustainable.
- Operational support: Compliance and administrative support including cybersecurity and operational assessments.
- Strategic consulting: strategic planning, financial projections, actuarial modeling, and plan design evaluation.
The Foster & Foster Advantage
We bridge the gap between national scale and local service. Whether working with trustees or administrators, our senior-level experts provide the continuity and responsiveness that multiemployer funds demand. The value we bring to our client partners allows them to offer the best benefits they can afford.