The Intergovernmental Personnel Benefit Cooperative (IPBC) is an intergovernmental agency created under Illinois statutes, which allows units of local government to band together for the purposes of insurance and is open to municipalities, counties, special districts and intergovernmental agencies. The IPBC was established in 1979 and as of January 1, 2024 has over 160 members spread across the state of Illinois.
Purpose
The purpose of the IPBC is to provide economies of scale and risk pooling that will allow members more financial stability than offered by the commercial insurance market in a fully transparent environment. The members retain the right within the IPBC to create and change their plan design, which is often required due to the nature of bargained contracts. Members also operate as part of a larger Board of Directors to control the finances within the pool.
Members
Long-term commitment by members to the philosophy of risk pooling has been instrumental in the success of the IPBC. Many members have been part of the organization for more than three decades.
Products
The IPBC offers self-insured PPO, HMO, and Dental programs and fully insured Vision and Dental programs. Upon entering the IPBC, each community will have access to a Life/AD&D benefit as well as a multitude of other voluntary products. The PPO program allows members authority over plan design, but provides a unique pooling of risk among all members for individual claims between $50,000 and $1,500,000. Claims over $1,500,000 are fully reinsured. Therefore, members are responsible for claims under $50,000 and the redistributed claims cost for claims between $50,000 and $1,500,000. This allows for enhanced budgeting and stability from year to year.
The HMO product is also self-insured through a special arrangement. Members pay for fixed costs of capitation (monthly stipend paid to primary care physician) for hospital and Rx charges. There are several different choices of plan designs with different levels of office visit and prescription drug co-pays. All members pay the same rates based on plan design offerings.
The IPBC offers both a self-insured and a fully-insured Dental program. For the self-insured plan, each member has complete flexibility over plan design.
The IPBC also offers a voluntary fully-insured Vision plan with multiple plan designs, spending accounts, and life insurance.