85. Charity Dollars, Real Savings: Rethinking Your Highest-Dollar Claimants w/ Brett Morris

In this episode of The Business of Benefits, host Chelsea Ryckis talks with Brett Morris, Founder and CEO of the Samaritan Fund Program, about one of the toughest problems in employee benefits: high-cost claimants. Brett spent 15 years as a benefits broker before founding Samaritan Fund Program in 2021, which connects employees facing high-cost diagnoses with charitable funding so they can move to individual coverage at little to no out-of-pocket cost, fully compliant with ERISA and DOL rules.We cover how self-funded employers can quantify the savings one high-cost claimant is driving on their renewal, why paying an employee to leave the plan is illegal (and why routing it through a vendor doesn't fix that), and how Samaritan Fund built a compliance framework reviewed by Nixon Peabody and examined by the DOL and six state regulators. Brett also shares a real case where a $250,000 renewal increase was fully offset while the affected member's costs dropped to zero.What you'll learnWhat counts as a "high-cost claimant" and why a handful of claims usually drive most of a renewal increaseThe legal line employers can't cross when moving a high-cost claimant off the group planHow Samaritan Fund sources charitable funding, and why the money can never touch the employer or a vendorThe four ways to manage risk (avoid, reduce, transfer, retain) and where this program fitsHow to quantify the savings opportunity from a high-cost claimant before your next renewalA case study eliminating $250,000 in renewal increase while the member's costs dropped to zeroHow Samaritan Fund Program is paid, and why it's built around performance, not a cut of savingsAbout Brett Morris and the Samaritan Fund Program Brett Morris is the Founder and CEO of the Samaritan Fund Program, which now works with more than 2,000 employer groups across 49 states and the Virgin Islands. He also leads the Samaritan Fund Foundation, the nonprofit side of the organization.Brett Morris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-morris-5179b737/Samaritan Fund Program website: https://samaritanfundprogram.com/Samaritan Fund Program on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/samaritan-fund-programSamaritan Fund Foundation website: https://samaritanfundfoundation.org/Samaritan Fund Foundation on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/samaritan-fund-foundationEmail: service@samaritanfundprogram.comFROM OUR SPONSORYou're doing the work. Don't leave the proof behind.Managing a health or retirement plan takes time, oversight, and judgment. Fiduciary In A Box documents your governance, vendor oversight, and committee decisions in one secure platform, so your fiduciary process speaks for itself. Learn more at www.fiduciaryinabox.comHOSTED BYChelsea Ryckis, President, Ethos BenefitsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-ryckis-8508a192/MORE FROM ETHOS BENEFITSWebsite: https://ethosbenefits.com/Podcast site: https://businessofbenefitspodcast.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebusinessofbenefitspodcastFinished with the content? Claim your CE credit here:https://ideas.ethosbenefits.com/continuing-educationSHRMEthos Benefits is recognized by SHRM to offer professional development credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.HRCIEthos Benefits is approved to offer HRCI® recertification credits for this program. This program has been approved for 0.5 - 1 HR (General) recertification credit(s) toward aPHR®, PHR®, SPHR®, and GPHR® certification.