Consultancy for Review of the UN Headquarters Health Insurance Plans

The United Nations headquarters in New York offers comprehensive health insurance coverage to its staff and eligible retirees under three alternative U.S. based medical insurance plans and a separate dental plan. Staff and retirees based outside the U.S. may alternatively elect to be covered under an European administered health plan Over 30,000 staff and retirees of the UN and its funds and programmes are enrolled in these plans with coverage also extended to their eligible dependents. All of the UN health plans, other than HIP, are self-insured. Health insurance coverage for staff and their dependents is optional with the related premium shared between staff, retirees and the Organization in accordance with established cost-sharing ratios. Plan participants also absorb additional costs such as co-payments and plan deductibles. Consultancy Specifications: The UN is seeking to engage a consultant for the purpose of examining and proposing additional options for its Headquarters Health Plans. The objective is to review and evaluate current benefit provisions and enrollment options taking into consideration best practices and current economic conditions including related administrative and financial implications, with a view to providing UN staff with additional plan enrollment options. To this end, the consultant shall examine the competitiveness of the UN self-insured health programs and evaluate employee satisfaction related to plan provisions and plan alternatives. Target date for the completion of the review is 31 March 2010. The selected firm shall: • assess existing benefit provisions and plan alternatives compared to best practices of large private employer and government plans; • evaluate potential for additional plan enrollment alternatives such as low cost high deductible plans, Healthy Life Style Plans and others as deemed appropriate; • execute an employee satisfaction survey to measure participant satisfaction with current plans and potential desire for additional plan options; • analyze the impact, including the disruption analysis, related to providing health insurance benefits through a single dental/medical provider vs. separate providers; • provide recommendations for revisions/additions in plan offerings including an indication of the related potential financial implications based on current and anticipated claims experience and medical trends. Qualifications: The consultant must have health insurance plan evaluation expertise and shall: a) possess extensive experience in evaluating and designing self-insured health plans for large international Organizations in the private, governmental or non-governmental sectors; b) have a minimum of 5 years’ experience in the benefits consulting business and must derive material revenue from such business; c) have adequate viable resources to deploy in the engagement of the required services within the specified timeframe with the ability to respond on short notice to the UN’s request. References: The Consultant is required to provide examples of at least three comparable consulting services the firm has undertaken, including for entities with a large concentration of employees in North America, Western Europe as well as in various developing countries. The following details of the three comparable contracts are requested: a) Description and duration of the projects to include the nature of the plan under review, project objectives, deliverables and impact of the outcome on the client; b) Value of the contract awards to the consultant; c) Names, telephone, fax and e-mail contacts of referenced clients.