About Us
The 32BJ Health Fund is an unusually effective collaboration between a labor union (SEIU 32BJ) and management (represented collectively by the Realty Advisory Board in New York) to provide affordable, comprehensive, and innovative health coverage to working-class people. We aggregate employer contributions from 5,000 employers, ranging from many small businesses to global real estate firms, and use these contributions to provide benefits to 200,000 people.
The 32BJ Health Fund serves members of the SEIU 32BJ union and their families. The union members are cleaners, property maintenance workers, doorpersons, security officers, window cleaners, building engineers, school and food service workers, and airport workers in multiple states and Washington, DC.
We approach health coverage differently than traditional health plans.
Our Approach
By aggregating benefits for union members across 5,000 mostly small employers, we are able to offer benefits that are more cost-effective than what most employers offer, on average. Moreover, the Health Fund’s benefits far exceed those that many of our small employer participants could access on the open market at the rate they get through the 32BJ Health Fund.
Union members stay in their jobs longer than the average worker, and the Health Fund has low turnover among its plan participants. Union members can also change jobs within the industry without disruption in benefits.
Whereas most workers get their health benefits through their employers, members of SEIU 32BJ get their health benefits through the Fund. Our participants know that our focus is to provide value-driven benefits that support their long-term health and well-being and not to make a profit. And, although employees may be hesitant to discuss their personal health issues with their employers, our participants frequently contact us for recommendations about healthcare providers and programs.
The Health Fund works with 32BJ and contributing employers to communicate regularly with Fund participants through conventional mailings, social media, and onsite workplace meetings to make sure they understand the benefits they are entitled to. The Fund also runs its own onsite call center to assist with benefit questions.
According to polls conducted by the Global Strategy Group in 2018, 91 percent of Health Fund participants are satisfied with their coverage, and 88 percent trust us to recommend providers and programs to them.
Our Partners & Our Programs
We improve the lives of hard-working people.
Our purpose is—and always has been—to change the life trajectory of hundreds of thousands of hard-working individuals and their families for generations to come. We do so by stewarding the employers’ contributions that we receive to provide easy and sustained access to comprehensive, life-affirming, and affordable healthcare solutions that deliver positive outcomes. In turn, we enjoy a unique relationship with our Health Fund participants: 91 percent say that they are satisfied with their coverage, and 88 percent trust us to recommend programs and providers to them.
We analyze proprietary data about participants’ usage and needs—as well as trends in public health, the evidence-based literature, and our geographical markets—and collaborate with forward-thinking partners to design our innovative programs.
Changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of hard-working individuals and their families—today and for generations to come
FAQ
Participants pay $0 premiums, $0 deductibles, and $0 copays for many preferred providers, and low copays for other providers.
The Health Fund assesses provider performance and incentivizes high-value care that keeps costs low. For example, the 32BJ Health Fund saves millions of dollars through its use of Centers of Excellence and innovative benefit plan design.
Many employers struggle to maintain health benefits without shifting more costs to employees each year. In contrast, we control costs for both the employers who fund our plans and their employees who depend on them. Successes include:
- Below-trend increases in employer contributions year after year
- Flat prescription drug costs in an environment of great increases
- Millions of dollars in savings through our pioneering approach to benefit plan design
At the 32BJ Health Fund, we engage with our participants every day. In turn, 91 percent of them say that they are satisfied with their coverage, and 88 percent of them trust us to recommend programs and providers to them.