Health Alliance Plan offers buyouts to its older workers
Henry Ford Health System’s integrated insurer Health Alliance Plan is offering buyouts to employees 55 years and older.
The voluntary program has no target total but is expected to be completed by the end of June, CEO Michael Genord told Crain’s in a statement.
Genord said the buyouts are not a direct cost-savings measure but an effort to restructure some operations.
“While the level of economic impact from the ongoing COVID pandemic has been unprecedented, the strategic decision to offer this voluntary package is based on the fact that it will allow us to restructure some teams and put resources where they are most needed to help serve our members,” Genord said. “Due to the work/life challenges caused by the ongoing pandemic, some team members have inquired about the possibility of early retirement options. We believe this program will help meet the needs of a subset of employees, while providing additional flexibility to the organization.”
Genord did not elaborate more on the retirements or the reasoning for them.
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HAP has spent the last several years expanding its coverage across the state with partnerships and acquisitions.
In 2019, it acquired Detroit-based Medicaid plan Trusted HP-Michigan, providing 9,000 members to the insurer.
Last year, HAP expanded its Medicare Advantage plans to alumni of Michigan State University with a partnership with MSU Health. The deal allows HAP to offer its Medicare Advantage plans to as many as 100,000 MSU graduates and their families in a 36-county footprint. Henry Ford Health is now affiliated with MSU as well.
HAP partnered with Muskegon-based Mercy Health in 2019 to offer Medicare Advantage plans to retirees and others over 65 years old in Kent, Muskegon, Ottawa and Oceana counties. It added Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties in 2020.
Currently, HAP has 85,000 members on its Medicare Advantage plans, including roughly 24,000 from the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust.
This story first appeared in our sister publication, Crain’s Detroit Business.