Research funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation documented that retirement rates are slowing and that health care funding and access are major concerns of faculty as they make their retirement decisions. Increasing health care costs, aging baby boomers, growing Medicare deficits and expanding accounting liabilities for defined benefit retiree medical programs necessitate drastic changes in current post-retirement benefit designs. Many institutions are choosing to reduce or eliminate their benefits out of financial necessity.

The Emeriti Program's comprehensive solution is designed to meet the needs of an institution without any retiree health program, or it can replace an existing plan. Each Consortium member designs a distinctive plan to meet its cultural and financial needs, within overall Program guidelines and rules.The presence of a retiree health insurance benefit and financial assistance with premiums can advance retirement by 18 to 36 months among older faculty.

Institutional advantages include:

Your institution has adopted an Emeriti Retiree Health Plan in order to provide your employees with two very important benefits:

Emeriti is committed to working closely with you to administer the plan, keeping you updated about Emeriti Program changes and enhancements, and answering any questions you may have along the way. This section of our website provides updates, Program information and support materials and resources.

During implementation, you received information about the Program, including contact information. If you need further assistance with any matter concerning the Emeriti Program, please email Christina Fendley, Implementation Manager at Emeriti Pre-65 Health Insuranceor
call 1-845-567-6666.

Emeriti's Bold New Directions

Emeriti is pleased to share important news about bold new directions in the Emeriti Program that will expand program offerings and enhance participant services, starting in January 2012.

Emeriti is collaborating with with TIAA‐CREF and Savitz to provide integrated services to the Emeriti Program:

Through the collaboration with TIAA‐CREF and Savitz, Emeriti's member organizations, which include colleges, universities and other education-related, tax‐exempt organizations, will now gain access for their participants to expanded investment options, better retirement plan integration, continuing group retiree health options, a new online health benefit website, and expanded options for reimbursement of qualifying health expenses, including a debit card.

Emeriti is committed to providing our member institutions with services, including program design, regulatory support and ongoing communication and education. To learn more about these services, click on the links below.

Program Design
Learn more about how Plans are developed for institutions, and what your choices and options are on an ongoing basis.

Regulatory Support
Emeriti has arranged with Insero & Company, a Rochester, New York-based audit and accounting firm associated with a large national network, to provide Emeriti Plan audit services for member institutions at a reduced rate.

Communication & Education
Here you will find access to member institution newsletters, Emeriti’s tutorial schedule, and key member institution materials to help you better facilitate the program.

Emeriti continually updates and makes enhancements to the Program in order to bring you and your employees the most comprehensive retiree benefit package available. Changes to Medicare coverage, influences on the economy and trends within the higher education community are closely monitored, so that we may make appropriate changes as is necessary.

Additionally, during the adoption agreement period and continuing with the implementation phase, Emeriti, along with our service providers, TIAA-CREF, Savitz, Aetna Life Insurance Company, and HealthPartners (in MN) provide support and resources to ensure that your plan meets the needs of your institution. We help you to design your plan, continually update your institution’s plan documents, create a Summary Plan Description and provide guidance around decisions you will make concerning:

If you have any questions concerning your institution's plan design, please contact Christina Fendley, Implementation Manager, at cfendley@emeritihealth.org or call 1-845-567-6666.

Institution Audits

After a national search and interviews with three finalist firms, Emeriti has arranged with Insero & Company*, a Rochester, New York-based audit and accounting firm associated with a large national network, to provide Emeriti Plan audit services for member institutions, at a reduced rate.

For more information, please read or download the Emeriti Audit Brochure

Who to Contact

If you would like to talk to Insero about an audit, please contact Michael Giess, CPA, Partner, at 585-697-9639, or Mike.Giess@INSEROCPA.COM. Insero would like to have a preliminary conversation by May 15th with any institution that is likely to select the firm for its audit.

1024 Forms

Because your institution has adopted its Emeriti Plan and its Employer-Contribution VEBA Trust, you will need to file IRS Form 1024 (Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(a)) with the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). The IRS will review the form, the trust, your Emeriti Plan (including Adoption Agreement), and employee/participant data to determine if the trust is exempt from tax as a voluntary employees' beneficiary association ("VEBA") under Section 501(c)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code. The form must be filed within 15 months after the end of the month in which the trust became effective. In addition, if your institution has adopted an Employee After-Tax Contribution VEBA Trust, you will need to file a second Form 1024 with the IRS in order to receive a determination letter from the IRS on the tax-exempt status of that trust. Although these filings are not due until 15 months after the end of the month in which each trust became effective, it is important to submit Form 1024 as soon as possible to avoid making contributions to these trusts for an extended period only to be informed by the IRS that changes to your institution's adoption agreement elections are necessary in order to obtain a favorable VEBA ruling. If your institution has adopted a Grantor Trust, a Form 1024 filing is not required for that trust.

Emeriti will assist your institution in filing the Form 1024 for each trust, including providing standardized answers to many of the questions on the form related to how your Emeriti Plan operates, as well as submitting the forms and accompanying documentation to the IRS for you. We will need certain participant and contribution data in order to complete the form. Based upon the IRS’s review of your Emeriti Plan (including Adoption Agreement) and your particular participant and contribution data, the IRS may request additional information.

For more information, please contact Christina Fendley, Implementation Manager at cfendley@emeritihealth.org or call 1-845-567-6666.

* Insero & Company is an integral member of the RSM McGladrey Network, the national accounting firm association of RSM McGladrey, Inc. and McGladrey and Pullen, LLP, together forming the fifth largest provider of accounting, tax and business consulting in the U.S. Through this national network, Insero & Company can accommodate all member institutions that wish to participate. Insero will be meeting with TIAA-CREF, Emeriti's master record keeper, to review all data, including the 5500 package that TIAA-CREF produces annually for each member institution.

¹ Extensions of this deadline may be available under certain circumstances. Emeriti will assist your institution in obtaining such extension if it is necessary.

Your institution has adopted an Emeriti Retiree Health Plan in order to provide your employees with two very important benefits:

Understanding that you are new to Emeriti, we want you to know that we are committed to working closely with you to administer the plan, keeping you updated about Emeriti Program changes and enhancements, and answering any questions you may have along the way.

Please introduce yourself to us

We would love to hear from you once you are settled into your new position so that we may answer any questions you may have, and to ensure that we have your correct contact information. Please email Christina Fendley, Implementation Manager at cfendley@emeritihealth.org or
call 1-845-567-6666.

Emeriti's annual enrollment coincides with Medicare's annual open enrollment period, allowing participants to switch to any other available Emeriti health insurance options. Administrators should keep the following in mind:

Emeriti representatives will be on-campus during the annual enrollment period to facilitate workshops for currently employed individuals, as well as pre-retirees and retirees. We work closely with administrators to plan for and schedule these workshops. If you have any questions, please email Christina Fendley, Implementation Manager at cfendley@emeritihealth.org or
call 1-845-567-6666.

An extraordinary nexus of issues puts retirement squarely in the middle of key executive objectives about shaping future academic programs, recruiting an academic workforce for those programs, and providing talented faculty and staff with appropriate compensation. Postponed retirements from a number of demographic forces beyond the academy have the potential to impede these objectives. In particular, the Baby Boom generation, the most numerous on nearly every campus, will soon reach Medicare eligibility, but may not retire. The impact of their retirement decisions, especially if delayed, may be far reaching.

In brief, how campus leaders shape the retirement expectations of the Baby Boom cohort and offer them a vision of future security will likely drive programs and budgets to an unprecedented degree.

The Defined Benefit—a Flawed Approach

Emeriti starts from the premise that the defined benefit paradigm for retiree medical benefits is unsustainable in its open-ended promise of subsidizing retiree health insurance at some designated share of future cost, whatever the actual expense might become. The defined benefit already shows multiple signs of collapse: rising health care trends, declining federal ability to meet Medicare obligations, larger numbers of retirees, increasing life expectancies, and the benefit's own growing proportion of the compensation budget.

The Emeriti-Defined Contribution Model—a Sustainable Solution

Emeriti uses an alternate funding model: the defined contribution model commonly associated with our 403(b) pension plans. This approach maximizes budgetary predictability and cost control for the institution by:

At retirement, the accumulated assets held within VEBA (Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association) Trusts are made available on a fully tax-free basis to participants who have satisfied their institution's vesting and retirement eligibility requirements. The assets may be designated for purchase of a range of fully-insured health plans and for reimbursement of other qualifying medical expenses. And even if their health accounts should become depleted, retirees may continue to take advantage of the health plans and other medical services by designating an electronic transfer of assets from other savings. In short, Emeriti provides tax-advantaged funding opportunities for retiree health care and leverages income protection for other retirement assets, such as pensions, which can only be used on a taxable basis.

Three Key Features of the Emeriti Program

1. An innovative tax-favored way to invest for retiree health expenses:

The Emeriti plan adopted by each institution enables employers and employees1 to make contributions via VEBA Trusts, and to invest those contributions in a range of TIAA-CREF mutual funds designed for retirement purposes.

2. A tax free means to pay for Qualified Medical Expenses in retirement:

Assets in the VEBA Trusts can be used by retirees for two purposes:

3. Portable group retiree health insurance building on the foundations of Medicare:

Pre-65 retirees can choose from among a range of group health insurance plans, Post-65 retirees can choose among a range of group health insurance plan options at different costs. All include Medicare-approved Part D prescription drug coverage, and all can include dental coverage.

¹ Institutions can decide whether to permit employee voluntary contributions. Under Federal law, iInstitutions with fewer than 50 eligible employees cannot allow employee voluntary contributions.

² These include insurance deductibles and coinsurance; Medicare premiums; vision, dental and hearing care costs; over-the-counter drugs; durable medical equipment; long-term care insurance or at-home medical care; and premiums for other pre- or post-65 retiree medical insurance.

The strategic value of the Emeriti Program comes from its defined contribution paradigm- predictable employer contributions for retiree health care throughout active service. The Program also provides guaranteed-issue, group health insurance, and a flexible, tax-favored reimbursement benefit for other qualified medical expenses.

The paradigm builds upon six key principles:

As a consortium, Emeriti leverages purchasing power, designs group products uniquely for the higher education community, and achieves administrative efficiencies in the delivery of retiree health care products and services for institutions of all sizes.

Emeriti's defined contribution funding model allows employers and employees to make contributions via highly tax-efficient VEBA trusts, to invest those contributions in a series of strategically designed life-cycle mutual funds for retirement purposes, offered by TIAA-CREF, and to disburse contributions and earnings tax free for a range of retiree health insurance options and a broad set of other qualifying medical expenses.

Upon retiring and having achieved Medicare eligibility, participants begin to draw down the prefunded assets to pay for custom-built group insurance plan options offering catastrophic protection, enhanced prescription drug benefits, national access, short-term foreign coverage, and preventive care. Insured participants may move among the various insurance options at annual enrollment. Two Medicare-supplement plans coordinate with Medicare and offer access to any provider accepting Medicare reimbursement. The other two medical plan options are Medicare Advantage (Part C) Private Fee-for-Service plans where a private insurer assumes the benefit coverages defined by Medicare. All plans include Medicare-approved Part D prescription drug plans, and federal subsidies are returned by Emeriti's insurers' PDPs to retirees as lower prescription drug premiums. Aetna provides these fully-insured plans on a national basis; HealthPartners® delivers comprehensive (medical and drug) plans to institutions in Minnesota; an additional carrier is expected to provide equivalent insurance to institutions in New Mexico.

In addition to health insurance supplementing Medicare benefits, Emeriti offers a reimbursement benefit (similar to a retiree lifetime flexible spending account) for other qualifying medical expenses. The range of applicable uses is defined in Section 213(d) of the IRS Code and includes expenditures for vision, hearing, dental, and long-term care; various medical equipment and health services; Medicare premiums and cost shares; and third-party health insurance (which, if elected, removes the participant from future access to the Emeriti health options).

Emeriti’s goal is to outsource the considerable administrative burdens of post-retirement medical benefits by coordinating vendor selection and oversight; integrating trust administration, investment management, master record-keeping functions, and disbursement services; securing fully insured health plans and COBRA administration; providing the legal framework for plan documents and regulatory compliance; and assuring a coordinated model of customer service and educational support.

Integral to Emeriti's mission in the higher education community is ongoing participant education. Whether active or retired, participants need to understand better that health care is likely to be their single largest retirement expense and may consume 20% - 35% of their retirement income. Emeriti is committed to multiple channels of communication—printed and electronic materials, campus workshops, a toll-free call center, and a single-point-of-access website—for current and future retirees who need to understand their investment, insurance and customer service options.

Emeriti is responsible for the design of the Emeriti Program, creating the legal structure and plan documents, and for developing new products and services. Emeriti oversees all aspects of the Program delivered by the selected vendors, including investment performance and customer service. Emeriti annually reviews the insurance benefits and negotiates with the carriers to make appropriate changes in benefit levels and rates, and to incorporate CMS changes to Medicare as necessary to obtain optimal levels of subsidies and a range of benefit options and costs. Emeriti is also responsible for education and communications for institutions and individuals, and for working with Consortium member institutions to determine their plan provisions and funding.

TIAA-CREF is Emeriti’s accumulation record keeper, trust services provider, and investment manager. TIAA-CREF is based in New York and has nearly one century of distinguished service to the non-profit community for financial services supporting retirement income security.

Savitz is Emeriti's disbursement record keeper for Emeriti group insurance administration and Emeriti medical expense reimbursement processing. Savitz is a Philadelphia company with more than forty years of experience in full‐service benefits services supporting employees and retirees in organizations nationwide.

Aetna is the insurance provider for Emeriti in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

HealthPartners of Minnesota to provide insurance for Minnesota institutions and their retirees residing in Minnesota.

Emeriti and its collaborators work together to provide integrated services to institutions and to participants, and to provide an integrated, comprehensive approach to Emeriti Plan design, implementation, and administration for plan sponsors. Emeriti has one telephone service center (1-866-Emeriti) through which individuals can ask questions about any aspect of the Program, make investment choices for the Health Accounts, name dependents, and enroll in the Emeriti Health Insurance Plan Options. Workshops held annually on campus deal with all aspects of the Program.

Emeriti is a defined contribution plan, funded through contributions that are equal flat dollar amounts for each eligible employee (derived from a minimum contribution pool equal to 1/2 of 1% of payroll for the eligible group of employees). Ongoing contributions are therefore very predictable, with no unfunded liabilities.

Institutions that want to continue a defined benefit promise from a legacy plan for current retired employees or older employees at the inception of the Emeriti Plan can do so; funding for the defined benefit promises will of course be less predictable, and tied to the rising costs of medical and drug costs and longevity. As those promises are phased out, replaced with defined contribution prefunding, the transition funding and the accompanying accounting liabilities will gradually be reduced.

The current economic turmoil has forced many organizations to re-examine their cost structures and develop new models for financial stability. Among the many pressure points is retirement, with health care becoming a significant concern. Older employees are delaying retirement, citing losses in their pension accounts, escalating health care costs, and a lack of access to affordable insurance after they retire. Read more.

HR Horizons' Perspective on What Drives Retirement

The uncertainty over health insurance benefits may be the biggest determinant for faculty members delaying retirement, says Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Cornell University's Irving M. Ives professor of industrial and labor relations and director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute. Read more.

Learn more about the Emeriti Program:

There are three ways to begin your participation in the Emeriti Program:

If you have a retiree health plan for your employees, you may be finding the annual costs increasingly unaffordable today and the mounting accounting liabilities unsustainable into the future. Aging workforces, rising utilization, and longer life spans will inevitably affect long-term benefit expenses. Even access-only health plans have growing costs, especially when linked to the active insurance pool, due to the greater health care expenses of older individuals. Many institutions are reducing employer contributions and/or coverage for their retiree health insurance, just as the strategic value of the coverage has become more central to the retirement decision of older faculty and staff.

Emeriti's new options can help you address end-of-career transitions and sustainable health benefits in retirement.

Insurance First Option

The Insurance First option allows you to delay pre-funding for a period of years, while providing your retirees immediate access to a menu of Emeriti's fully insured group health insurance options underwritten by Aetna, a national leader in retiree health benefits.

Parameters

Benefits

Incremental Pre-Funding Option

The Incremental Pre-Funding option allows you to ramp up employer contributions over a period of time, while providing immediate access to Emeriti insurance options and additional benefits.

Parameters

Benefits

Through the Emeriti Program, employer costs are predictable; in some cases your insurance premium subsidy costs may be reduced. You accrue no accounting liabilities and will gradually reduce the liabilities of legacy plans, depending on your contribution strategy. Your retiring employees will have guaranteed access to a range of Medicare supplement medical plans and Part D prescription drug plans underwritten by Aetna. Younger employees will have the opportunity to build assets, through institutional and individual contributions (timing depends on the option you choose), in tax-advantaged health savings accounts through TIAA-CREF that can pay for a broad range of health expenses in retirement.

To receive a customized analysis of the cost savings available to your institution, call 1-866-685-6565, or email us.

If you do not have a retiree health plan, you may feel that you cannot add a new benefit in this environment; and yet, the continuing salaries, health insurance, and other types of compensation for even a small number of your highest earning older employees may cost more than the annual outlay for participation in Emeriti's defined contribution retiree health plan on behalf of all benefits-eligible employees.

Emeriti's new options can help you address end-of-career transitions and sustainable health benefits in retirement.

Insurance First Option

The Insurance First option allows you to delay pre-funding for a period of years, while providing your retirees immediate access to a menu of Emeriti's fully insured group health insurance options underwritten by Aetna, a national leader in retiree health benefits.

Parameters

Benefits

Incremental Pre-Funding Option

The Incremental Pre-Funding option allows you to ramp up employer contributions over a period of time, while providing immediate access to Emeriti insurance options and additional benefits.

Parameters

Benefits

Through the Emeriti Program, employer costs are predictable, and you accrue no accounting liabilities. Your retiring employees will have guaranteed access to a range of Medicare supplement medical plans and Part D prescription drug plans underwritten by Aetna. Younger employees will have the opportunity to build assets, through institutional and individual contributions (timing depends on the option you choose), in tax-advantaged health savings accounts through TIAA-CREF that can pay for a broad range of health expenses in retirement.

To receive a customized analysis of the cost savings available to your institution, call 1-866-685-6565, or email us.

The Emeriti Defined Contribution Model - a Sustainable Solution

Unlike the traditional defined benefit paradigm for retiree medical benefits, Emeriti uses an alternate funding vehicle: the defined contribution model commonly associated with 403(b) pension plans.

During active service, Emeriti's comprehensive approach maximizes budgetary predictability and cost control for the institution by:

At retirement, the accumulated assets held within VEBA (Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association) Trust health accounts are made available on a fully tax-free basis to participants for:

Learn more about the key features of the Emeriti Program.

If you have a retiree health plan for your employees, you may be finding the annual costs increasingly unaffordable today and the mounting accounting liabilities unsustainable into the future. Aging workforces, their rising health care utilization, and their longer life spans will inevitably affect long-term benefit expenses. Even access-only health plans have growing costs, especially when linked to the active insurance pool, due to the greater health care expenses of older individuals. Many institutions are reducing employer contributions to and/or coverage provisions for their retiree health insurance, just as the strategic value of this benefit has become more central to the retirement decision of older faculty and staff.

If you do not have a retiree health plan, you may feel that you cannot add a new benefit in this environment; and yet, end-of-career salaries, health insurance, and other types of compensation for even a small number of your highest earning older employees may cost more than the annual outlay for participation in Emeriti’s defined contribution retiree health plan.

Whether you have a retiree health benefit or not, Emeriti can customize a plan to meet your institution's cultural and financial needs.

To receive a customized analysis of insurance cost savings and pre-funding amounts, call 1-866-685-6565, or email us at info@emeritihealth.org.

Emeriti's Insurance First Option enables you to begin the Program initially with group insurance access and delay pre-funding for a period of years. If your institution has an existing retiree health plan, save money on benefit costs immediately by converting to Emeriti's group insurance options. If you don't have a plan, offer guaranteed issue group coverage immediately to your retiring faculty and staff.

Whether you have a retiree health benefit or not, Emeriti can customize the Insurance First Option to meet your institution's cultural and financial needs.

My institution has a retiree health plan for employees.

You may be finding the annual costs increasingly unaffordable today and the mounting accounting liabilities unsustainable into the future. Aging workforces, their rising health care utilization, and their longer life spans will inevitably affect long-term benefit expenses. Even access-only health plans have growing costs, especially when linked to the active insurance pool, due to the greater health care expenses of older individuals. Many institutions are reducing employer contributions to and/or coverage provisions for their retiree health insurance, just as the strategic value of this benefit has become more central to the retirement decision of older faculty and staff.

Parameters of Insurance First Option for institutions with an existing retiree health plan:

Benefits of Insurance First Option for institutions with an existing retiree health plan:

Through the Insurance First Option, your insurance premium subsidy costs may be reduced. Your retiring employees will have guaranteed access to a range of Medicare supplement plans and Part D prescription drug plans underwritten by Aetna. Your younger employees will have the opportunity to build assets, through institutional and individual contributions into Emeriti's tax-advantaged health savings accounts managed by TIAA-CREF.

My institution does not have a retiree health plan for employees.

You may feel that you cannot add a new benefit in this environment; and yet, end-of-career salaries, health insurance, and other types of compensation for even a small number of your highest earning older employees may cost more than the annual outlay for participation in Emeriti’s defined contribution retiree health plan.

Parameters of Insurance First Option for institutions with no existing retiree health plan:

Benefits of Insurance First Option for institutions with no existing retiree health plan:

Through Emeriti's Insurance First Option, you accrue no accounting liabilities and your retiring employees will have guaranteed access to a range of Medicare supplement plans and Part D prescription drug plans underwritten by Aetna. When you begin pre-funding, employer costs are predictable, and your younger employees will have the opportunity to build assets, through institutional and individual contributions into Emeriti's tax-advantaged health savings accounts, managed by TIAA-CREF.

To receive a customized analysis of insurance cost savings and minimum pre-funding amounts, call 1-866-685-6565, or email us.

Emeriti's Incremental Pre-Funding Option enables you to begin the Program at a reduced contribution level today, with access to all Emeriti benefits as your institution ramps up to Emeriti's benchmark funding over a period of years.

Whether you have a retiree health benefit or not, Emeriti can customize the Incremental Pre-Funding Option to meet your institution's cultural and financial needs.

My institution has a retiree health plan for employees.

You may be finding the annual costs increasingly unaffordable today and the mounting accounting liabilities unsustainable into the future. Aging workforces, their rising health care utilization, and their longer life spans will inevitably affect long-term benefit expenses. Even access-only health plans have growing costs, especially when linked to the active insurance pool, due to the greater health care expenses of older individuals. Many institutions are reducing employer contributions to and/or coverage provisions for their retiree health insurance, just as the strategic value of this benefit has become more central to the retirement decision of older faculty and staff.

Parameters of Incremental Pre-Funding Option for institutions with an existing retiree health plan:

Benefits of Incremental Pre-Funding Option for institutions with an existing retiree health plan:

Through the Incremental Pre-Funding Option, employer costs for the benefit are predictable and sustainable. With defined contribution pre-funding, you accrue no accounting liabilities and will gradually reduce the liabilities of legacy plans, depending on your contribution strategy. Your retiring employees will have guaranteed access to a range of Medicare supplement plans and Part D prescription drug plans underwritten by Aetna. Your younger employees will have the opportunity to build assets, through institutional and individual contributions into Emeriti's tax-advantaged health savings accounts managed by TIAA-CREF.

My institution does not have a retiree health plan for employees.

You may feel that you cannot add a new benefit in this environment; and yet, the continuing salaries, health insurance, and other types of compensation for even a small number of your highest earning older employees may cost more than the annual outlay for participation in Emeriti's defined contribution retiree health plan on behalf of all benefits-eligible employees.

The Incremental Pre-Funding option allows you to ramp up employer contributions over a period of time, while providing immediate access to Emeriti insurance options and additional benefits.

Incremental Pre-Funding Parameters for institutions without an existing retiree health plan:

Incremental Pre-Funding Benefits for institutions with no existing retiree health plan:

Through the Incremental Pre-Funding Option, employer costs are predictable and sustainable, and you accrue no accounting liabilities. Your retiring employees will have guaranteed access to a range of Medicare supplement plans and Part D prescription drug plans underwritten by Aetna. Your younger employees will have the opportunity to build assets, through institutional and individual contributions into Emeriti's tax-advantaged health savings accounts, managed by TIAA-CREF.

To receive a customized analysis of insurance cost savings and minimum pre-funding amounts, call 1-866-685-6565, or email us.

The Emeriti Program is designed to meet the needs of an institution without any retiree health program, or it can replace an existing plan. Each Consortium member designs a distinctive plan to meet its cultural and financial needs, within overall Program guidelines.

Click on the link that best describes your retirement health profile:

Since your institution has no post-65 retiree health plan, you may be experiencing some difficulties with older faculty and staff being reluctant to retire and lose their active health insurance. The original research that led to the creation of the Emeriti Program found that faculty at institutions without a retiree health benefit were delaying retirement by 18-36 months just so that they could keep their active coverage. Those last couple of years can be very costly, in terms of salaries for individuals in their peak earning years, and for health and disability insurance for these older workers. Work extensions also impede with institutional renewal and opportunities for young promising faculty.

We invite you to explore the Emeriti defined contribution approach to retiree health. We offer a pre-funding approach that creates no FAS 106 or GAS 45 accounting liabilities and offers participants help in paying for the expense of out-of-pocket health costs during retirement, along with the security of guaranteed access to group insurance for themselves and their eligible dependents wherever they choose to live. Emeriti also offers optional pre-65 retiree health coverage for institutions that have adopted our post-65 insurance.

Your institution currently provides some benefit for retired employees, either access to your active plan, or a subsidy to help defray the cost for insurance to supplement Medicare or the out-of-pocket costs that Medicare and insurance do not cover.

If you are allowing your retirees to stay in your active health insurance plan, you are incurring additional costs, even if they are paying the active premium. Individuals over 65 have substantially higher health expenses than do younger employees, particularly for prescription drugs; therefore your younger employees are subsidizing your retirees. And you are incurring a FAS 106/GAS 45 liability for the value of the subsidy. Depending on the type of coverage that you are providing, if your retirees relocate during retirement, they may find themselves outside of the coverage area and lose the coverage.

If you are providing a subsidy for your retirees to help them to pay for their health care, you are incurring a FAS 106/GAS 45 liability for the value of the subsidy, and you are also meeting only part of their health care needs. Retirees not only need help in paying for their health care, they also need guaranteed access to quality insurance to complement Medicare available nationwide.

We invite you to explore the Emeriti defined contribution approach to retiree health. We offer a pre-funding approach that creates no FAS 106 or GAS 45 accounting liabilities, and offers participants help in paying for the expense of out-of-pocket health costs during retirement, along with the security of guaranteed access to group insurance for themselves and their eligible dependents wherever they choose to live. And beginning in 2009, we will offer optional pre-65 retiree health coverage for institutions that have adopted our post-65 insurance.

Your institution has a grandfathered or transition plan for certain employees, but you have no plan for most or all active employees. You may have closed or amended your plan because of the cost, either in terms of the premiums or the FAS 106/ GAS 45 accounting liabilities or the administrative upkeep. But you may now see that those employees who are not covered under the plan are concerned about their ability to afford or even obtain good quality health care coverage. You may also be seeing faculty and staff staying on in their positions for longer than they would otherwise like because they want to maintain their active health care coverage.

The original research that led to the creation of the Emeriti Program found that faculty at institutions without a retiree health benefit were delaying retirement by 18-36 months just so that they could keep their active coverage. Those last couple of years can be very costly, in terms of salaries for individuals in their peak earning years, and for health and disability insurance for these older workers. Work extensions also interfere with institutional renewal and opportunities for young promising faculty.

We invite you to explore the Emeriti defined contribution approach to retiree health. We offer a pre-funding approach that creates no FAS 106 or GAS 45 accounting liabilities, and offers participants help in paying for the expense of out-of-pocket health costs during retirement, along with the security of guaranteed access to group insurance for themselves and their eligible dependents wherever they choose to live. And beginning in 2009, we will offer optional pre-65 retiree health coverage for institutions that have adopted our post-65 insurance.

Your institution currently provides a retiree health insurance benefit for your employees. More and more institutions are finding that maintaining their own insurance plan for retirees is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking, but a benefit valued by employees. Many are paring away at the subsidy provided or the coverage, in order to reduce the premium/claims costs or the FAS 106/GAS 45 subsidy. You may be finding that these expenses are growing too quickly or that the administrative burden of maintaining an insurance plan for retirees is too great, but you recognize that eliminating the plan would create other problems with your active employees, who might be reluctant to retire without retiree health coverage.

We invite you to explore the Emeriti defined contribution approach to retiree health. We offer a pre-funding approach that creates no FAS 106 or GAS 45 accounting liabilities, and offers participants help in paying for the expense of out-of-pocket health costs during retirement, along with the security of guaranteed access to group insurance for themselves and their eligible dependents wherever they choose to live. And beginning in 2009, we will offer optional pre-65 retiree health coverage for institutions that have adopted our post-65 insurance.

What are your next steps toward becoming a member of the Emeriti Program and adopting an Emeriti Plan for your faculty and staff? There are three levels of engagement, designed as a collaborative experience that allow you to fully understand how the Emeriti Program will benefit your institution. Please note that you may choose to declare membership at any time during the process.

Letter of Interest:

A Letter of Interest is a non-binding statement of interest signed by the appropriate institutional decision maker stating a general interest in the Emeriti Program.

Benefits: The institution receives periodic follow-up communications, a newsletter about the Emeriti Program development and enhancements, invitations to upcoming events and teleconferences and various reports and surveys.

Goal: To learn more about the Emeriti Program and to keep abreast of new products and services and enhanced tools for evaluating the conditions of consortial membership.

Letter of Intent:

A Letter of Intent is a non-binding statement of intent to engage in an in-depth evaluation of the Emeriti Program with the goal of reaching a decision about membership in the Emeriti consortium. It is a signal that the institution is willing to commit the time and resources necessary to engage in a series of action steps to evaluate funding considerations, plan design, transition issues and implementation strategies. In turn, Emeriti allocates considerable resources in support of the decision-making process.

Benefits: The institution is assigned a dedicated Emeriti staff member to develop an action plan and a customized timeline in order to undertake a thorough evaluation of the conditions of membership in the Emeriti Program. Emeriti resources include prospective and transition funding tools, periodic teleconferences with the campus champion and evaluation team, on-campus meetings with campus constituencies, decision support materials for senior management, development of a formal proposal, guidance on final plan documents and assistance with program implementation.

Goal: To conduct a thorough evaluation of the Emeriti Program and make a decision about membership in the Emeriti consortium.

Declaration of Program Membership:

A Declaration of Membership is a contractual obligation to proceed with membership in the Emeriti Consortium and pay the implementation fee. The implementation process begins with the submission of final plan documents and agreement upon a timeline for launching the various components of the institution's Plan. Emeriti provides a comprehensive, outsourced retiree medical benefits program.

Benefits: The institution receives support for implementation of its Plan, training of administrators on the record-keeping system, and education and enrollment of participants. Thereafter, the institution continues to benefit from Emeriti's outsourced administrative services, enhanced products and services, continuing education of participants, regular newsletters and other updates and periodic evaluation of program effectiveness.

Goal: To implement the institution’s Emeriti Plan and to educate participants about and enroll them in all applicable features of the retiree medical benefits program.

Please call our Marketing Manager at 866-685-6565 or email marketing@emeritihealth.org to get started.

Emeriti has navigated through a complex regulatory environment to offer institutions an innovative, outsourced solution for pre-funding of retiree medical costs by employers and employees, and a nationwide insurance program with a range of plans and costs.

Emeriti works very closely with each institution to help with plan design. There is flexibility in eligibility and funding, within the parameters of IRC nondiscrimination requirements and a modest minimum contribution. There is considerable flexibility for institutions that want to transition from a legacy retiree health plan or to provide additional funding for employees entering the Emeriti Plan late in their career.

Emeriti has developed tools that can model different prospective or transitional funding approaches so that the institution can select a contribution amount or funding schedule that will meet its objectives. Institutions can also define the vesting period for the right to use the employer funds in the health account, the duration for the contributions (i.e. 25 years), the definition of retirement eligibility for purposes of eligibility for the insurance, as well as other aspects of the Plan design.

Prospective Funding Model (developed by PwC)

Emeriti's prospective funding model (developed by PwC) is an actuarial model which illustrates various funding dynamics related to a defined contribution approach of pre-funding retiree healthcare. The model is used to educate prospective institutions on how the Emeriti Program works and to illustrate the sensitivity of various future funding scenarios to changes in certain key assumptions, particularly investment return, employer contribution increases, health trend and medical and prescription geographical factors. The model allows an institution to target a funding goal at retirement (assumed to be age 65) of one of five medical and prescription drug combinations underwritten through Aetna. Employer contributions may start as early as age 25 (no later than 40) and may continue for 20, 25 or 30 years. The model output illustrates the first year’s cash flow to an institution adopting a defined contribution approach.

Emeriti's Transition Model (developed by Aetna)

Emeriti's transition model (developed by an Aetna underwriting statistician) projects retiree healthcare costs for institutions with an existing retiree benefit and compares these estimates with the costs of moving to an Emeriti plan. The model extrapolates out 25 years. Various transition scenarios are contained within the model, allowing an institution to provide additional defined contribution (DC) funding to older employees only, or to the entire active population (age 40 and older). The model allows for flexible sensitivity around medical cost trend, vesting and level of employer contributions. The model takes into account forfeitures as a key element of savings for the institution pending vesting options. The model provides a variety of output presentations. It also contains a module for estimating additional costs for an institution without any retiree benefit due to delayed retirement of faculty.

For more information, and to begin working with Emeriti on either of these models, please call our Marketing Manager at 866-685-6565 or email marketing@emeritihealth.org.

Declared Members in the Emeriti Program

The institutions below have signed a non-binding letter of interest in joining the Emeriti Consortium.

Prospective Funding Model (developed by PwC)

Emeriti’s prospective funding model is an actuarial tool which illustrates various funding dynamics related to a defined contribution approach of pre-funding retiree health care. The model is used to educate prospective institutions on how the Emeriti Program works and to illustrate the sensitivity of various future funding scenarios to changes in certain key assumptions, particularly investment return, employer contribution increases, health trend and medical and prescription geographical factors. The model allows an institution to target a funding goal at retirement (assumed to be age 65) of one of five medical and prescription drug combinations underwritten through Aetna. Employer contributions may start as early as age 25 (no later than 40) and may continue for 20, 25 or 30 years. The model output illustrates the first year’s cash flow to an institution adopting a defined contribution approach.

Emeriti’s Transition Model (developed by Aetna)

Emeriti’s transition model projects retiree healthcare costs for institutions with an existing retiree benefit and compares these estimates with the costs of moving to an Emeriti plan. The model extrapolates out 25 years. Various transition scenarios are contained within the model, allowing an institution to provide additional DC funding to older employees only or to the entire active population (age 40 and older). The model allows for flexible sensitivity around medical cost trend, vesting and level of employer contributions. The model takes into account forfeitures as a key element of savings for the institution pending vesting options. The model provides a variety of output presentations. It also contains a module for estimating additional costs for an institution without any retiree benefit due to delayed retirement of faculty.

For more information, and to begin working with Emeriti on either of these models, please call our Marketing Manager at 866-685-6565 or email marketing@emeritihealth.org.

Prospective Funding Model (developed by PwC)

Emeriti's prospective funding model (developed by PwC) is an actuarial model which illustrates various funding dynamics related to a defined contribution approach of pre-funding retiree health care. The model is used to educate prospective institutions on how the Emeriti Program works and to illustrate the sensitivity of various future funding scenarios to changes in certain key assumptions, particularly investment return, employer contribution increases, health trend and medical and prescription geographical factors. The model allows an institution to target a funding goal at retirement (assumed to be age 65) of one of five medical and prescription drug combinations underwritten through Aetna. Employer contributions may start as early as age 25 (no later than 40) and may continue for 20, 25 or 30 years. The model output illustrates the first year’s cash flow to an institution adopting a defined contribution approach.

Emeriti's Transition Model (developed by Aetna)

Emeriti's transition model (developed by an Aetna underwriting statistician) projects retiree healthcare costs for institutions with an existing retiree benefit and compares these estimates with the costs of moving to an Emeriti plan. The model extrapolates out 25 years. Various transition scenarios are contained within the model, allowing an institution to provide additional DC funding to older employees only or to the entire active population (age 40 and older). The model allows for flexible sensitivity around medical cost trend, vesting and level of employer contributions. The model takes into account forfeitures as a key element of savings for the institution pending vesting options. The model provides a variety of output presentations. It also contains a module for estimating additional costs for an institution without any retiree benefit due to delayed retirement of faculty.

For more information, and to begin working with Emeriti on either of these models, please call our Marketing Manager at 866-685-6565 or email marketing@emeritihealth.org.

To aid institutions in exploring potential cost savings and in determining appropriate funding levels for entry into the Emeriti Program, Emeriti has developed a series of proprietary analytical tools.

View example of premium savings illustration.

View example of compensation savings illustration.

All tools rely on demographic data and various assumptions provided by the institution.

Fill Out Emeriti's Simple Data Request Form to Get Started

Download form.

Emeriti also encourages independent consultations.