Our Mission is Your Health

SEGIP provides health and wellbeing benefit programs for state employees and other participating organizations. The state's health benefits include medical and optional dental insurance, a pharmacy benefit, and programs that offer health coaching and worksite wellness initiatives. Wellbeing programs include life, disability, and pre-tax spending accounts for medical, dental, vision, childcare, parking, and commuting expenses. Through its employee assistance program, SEGIP also supports employee wellbeing at home and in the workplace.

Keeping Healthcare Affordable

Health care costs have been increasing across the country. Higher costs means higher health insurance premiums and/or higher out of pocket costs such as deductibles and copayments. The following strategies are ways SEGIP works to keep health care costs affordable:

Tiered Provider Network

SEGIP’s health plan design encourages members to choose clinics that provide care at the lowest cost. Nearly 90% of SEGIP members currently choose clinics in the lowest two cost tiers. When members choose the lowest cost providers, additional providers have an incentive to appear in lower cost tiers; this enables the state to obtain better prices.
Holding Vendors Accountable

SEGIP structures contracts with health plans and its pharmacy benefit manager to help contain costs. For example, the health plan contracts include financial incentives tied to specific cost containment goals, and our pharmacy benefits management (PBM) contract ensures that we get the lowest prices available through the PBM, and that all rebates from drug manufacturers are passed on to the state.
Prescription drug costs have grown rapidly. Formal audits of pharmacy benefit management will ensure that members receive the best possible deals.
Paying Providers Based on Value, Not Just Volume of Services

The way health care providers get paid can be designed to promote lower cost and higher quality, instead of the traditional way of paying based on volume of services. Use of innovative payment arrangements has grown in recent years, and SEGIP encourages health plan administrators to do even more in this area. In 2015, about half of the $721 million spent by SEGIP on health care was paid through these types of arrangements.
Chronic Disease Prevention

Promoting healthy behaviors helps to control health care costs by preventing chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. In April 2015, SEGIP launched a diabetes prevention program that enrolled over 5,300 members in its first 17 months. Collectively, program participants have lost over 43,000 pounds. According to the American Diabetes Association, people with diabetes have health care costs that are 2.3 times higher than average. Preventing diabetes saves SEGIP and state employees money in the long run.

Need more information?

Learn more about how primary care cost levels are determined and why they change.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact SEGIP.