Ohio Benefits Cooperative

What Ohio Benefits Cooperative does

Ohio Benefits Cooperative (OBC) is a not-for-profit cooperative founded in 1994 and headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, that pools the purchasing power of Ohio government and public entities to provide group medical, life, AD&D, and dependent life benefits to member employees. Eligible members include municipalities, counties, townships, special districts, and school districts, with Full Board membership restricted to entities of 50-250 eligible employees located within a defined 30-county Ohio territory. As of the most recent data, OBC has 18 Full Board and 10 Affiliate members.

The cooperative's core offering is the OBC Medical Benefits Program, a self-funded arrangement built on the Jefferson Health Plan platform with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield as third-party administrator and CarelonRx as pharmacy benefit manager. Members can participate either in the OBC Medical Pool, which shares common rates across all entities and calculates renewals using combined pool experience across 9 standard plan designs (including PPO and QHDHP), or in the OBC Purchasing Cooperative, which rates each entity on its own merits with custom plan design. A turnkey wellness initiative, administered by Personify Health (formerly Virgin Pulse), provides health risk assessment and incentive-based coaching as an embedded component of medical pool premiums. Fully insured life, AD&D, supplemental life, and dependent life coverage is provided through Standard Insurance Company.

Revenue is generated from one-time membership fees ($800 for Full Board, $75 for Affiliate) plus recurring medical and life/AD&D premiums paid by member entities, with wellness costs built into medical premiums. Sales are conducted on a direct basis through McGohan Brabender (contact: Justin Wiedle). The cooperative is governed by a Board of Members drawn from participating entities; current officers are Leslie Kohli (President, City of Miamisburg), Jennifer Wilder (Vice President, Washington Township), Stephanie Hurd (Treasurer, City of Eaton), and Elaine Wittman (Secretary, City of Clayton). The organization has 11-50 employees and is privately held with no evidence of venture capital or parent company backing.

Name

Ohio Benefits Cooperative

Legal name

Ohio Benefits Cooperative

Website

https://ohiobenefitscoop.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ohio Benefits Cooperative is a not-for-profit cooperative, founded in 1994 and based in Dayton, Ohio, that pools the purchasing power of Ohio government and public entities (municipalities, counties, townships, school districts) to provide self-funded group medical, life, AD&D, and wellness benefits to 28 member organizations across 30 Ohio counties.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Group Health Insurance / Public Sector Benefits Administration

NAICS

Health and Welfare Funds (525120), Insurance and Employee Benefit Funds (5251)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Insurance Agents, Brokers & Service (6411)

akta.pro primary industry

Benefits Administration (BPACAPAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Ancillary Benefits TPA (Dental/Vision/Life/Accident/Critical Illness) (HLAEALAN), Benefits Administration & Enrollment Support (BPAAAIAB)

Keywords

• Group health insurance
• Public sector benefits
• Employee benefits cooperative
• Municipal insurance pool
• Government benefits administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Dayton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: One-time membership fees from joining entities. Full Board members pay $800 and Affiliate members pay $75. These fees contribute to cooperative operations.
2. Medical Plan Premiums: Self-funded medical benefits program where member entities pay premiums into the pool. Wellness costs including participant incentives are built into the premiums. Rates are shared across all OBC Medical Pool entities based on common plan designs.
3. Life/AD&D Insurance Premiums: Fully insured life, AD&D, supplemental life, and dependent life insurance benefits administered by Standard Insurance Company. Premiums collected from member entities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Ohio Benefits Cooperative is a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative that negotiates and administers group health, life, AD&D, and supplemental benefit plans on behalf of Ohio public entities. It pools the purchasing power of small and mid-sized municipalities, townships, libraries, and school districts to access carrier-level rates and benefits typically reserved for large employers, and distributes those plans through partnerships with established carriers and wellness providers.

Product overview

Ohio Benefits Cooperative is a not-for-profit benefits purchasing cooperative for Ohio government and public entities. The organization operates two primary product lines: (1) the OBC Medical Benefits Program, which offers self-funded medical coverage through the Jefferson Health Plan platform with options for either the OBC Medical Pool (shared risk/rates) or the OBC Purchasing Cooperative (individual rating/custom plans), and (2) fully insured Life/AD&D/Supplemental Life/Dependent Life coverage administered by Standard Insurance Company. The cooperative also provides a turnkey wellness initiative through Personify Health (formerly Virgin Pulse) as an add-on for medical pool participants. Membership is available in two tiers: Full Board membership ($800, full voting rights, all benefits) and Affiliate membership ($75, no voting rights, life/AD&D benefits only).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Group Medical Benefits

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced health-related costs through wellness programs and pooled risk

Named customers11 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Jefferson Health PlancoreTechnology or Integration · 1 September 2015Jefferson Health Plan provides the platform for the OBC self-funded medical benefits program. The OBC medical benefits program utilizes this platform effective September 1, 2015. This is the foundational platform enabling the cooperative's medical pooling structure.
• Anthem Blue Cross Blue ShieldcoreTechnology or IntegrationAnthem Blue Cross Blue Shield serves as the third-party administrator and provides the provider network for OBC medical benefits. Member entities access Anthem's provider network for healthcare services.
• CarelonRxcoreTechnology or IntegrationCarelonRx is the pharmacy benefit manager for OBC medical benefits, handling prescription drug coverage and management for member employees.
• Personify Health (formerly Virgin Pulse)coreTechnology or IntegrationPersonify Health administers the OBC wellness initiative, providing a platform that rewards participants for making health improvements through coaching and incentives. Uses health measurements including Total Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Height and Weight to determine health risks.
• Standard Insurance CompanycoreTechnology or IntegrationStandard Insurance Company administers OBC life insurance benefits on a fully insured basis. Provides Life, AD&D, supplemental life, and dependent life coverage for eligible employees.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Regional players

• Medical Mutual of Ohio: Ohio-based mutual health insurer serving employer groups and public-sector clients. Comparable as a regionally focused Ohio health benefits provider overlapping in target market with OBC's member base.

Broad incumbents

• Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield: OBC's third-party administrator and provider network for medical benefits. As a large incumbent health insurer with significant Ohio public-sector presence, it overlaps with OBC in administering employee health benefits.
• Benefitfocus: Benefits administration technology platform serving large employers and health plans. Comparable as a technology layer for employee benefits enrollment, administration, and management, though at greater scale than OBC's in-house capability.

Emerging players

• Personify Health: Administers OBC's wellness initiative (formerly Virgin Pulse). Comparable as a corporate wellness and employee engagement platform targeting employer-sponsored benefit programs.
• HealthEquity: Leading HSA and consumer-directed benefit account administrator, complementary to OBC's QHDHP plan offerings. Comparable as an emerging player enabling the QHDHP/HSA benefit designs that OBC includes in its 9 standard plan options.

Direct peers

• Jefferson Health Plan: Provides the self-funded benefits administration platform underlying OBC's medical program. Operates as a cooperative-style health benefits pool serving Ohio public entities, directly comparable in mission and member base.
• COSE (Council of Smaller Enterprises): Greater Cleveland-based small business membership cooperative offering pooled benefits and services. Comparable cooperative model pooling purchasing power for member organizations, though COSE targets private small employers rather than public entities.

Others

• Standard Insurance Company: Administers OBC's fully insured Life/AD&D/Supplemental/Dependent Life benefits. Comparable as a group life and disability insurer serving employer-sponsored plans, with overlap in employee benefit product lines.
• CarelonRx: OBC's pharmacy benefit manager (Elevance Health subsidiary). Comparable as a PBM serving employer-sponsored and government health plans; not a direct competitor but a structural partner in the same benefits value chain.
• McGohan Brabender: Employee benefits broker and OBC's primary sales/relationship partner (Justin Wiedle). Directly comparable as a benefits distribution intermediary serving Ohio employers and public-sector clients.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/obc_benefits
• Facebookfacebook.com/OhioBenefitsCooperative
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ohiobenefitscooperative

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ohio Benefits Cooperative