A New Corporate Prepaid Group Health Plan

Abstract

An omnibus, prepaid health care program for employees has been established by R. J. Reynolds Industries, Inc., in its headquarters city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This program represents the most extensive private health care commitment on the part of a corporate employer since the organization of the Kaiser-Permanente system in California more than thirty years ago. It is an outpatient, closed-panel health maintenance organization (HMO) designed to accomodate the full spectrum of employee health needs, using all preventive, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, surgical, and therapeutic means available. Started on July 1, 1976, with a membership of 6,000, it has grown to a current enrollment of 10,000, and projections are that the maximum level of 30,000 members will be attained within three years. It is estimated that 85 percent of R. J. Reynolds’ 15,000 Winston-Salem employees ultimately will belong to the plan.