Patent for Program for Alternative Funding of Employee and Retiree Benefits

[IMP]

discuss

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a patent entitled “Program for Alternative Funding of Employee and Retiree Benefits” to Spring Consulting Group, LLC. According to a press release, the patent relates to a system and method for configuring, optimizing, managing and tracking alternative funding of employee and retiree benefits and benefit plans. Spring says it is the first company to develop the patented technology enabling alternative funding of employee and retiree benefits.


http://www.patents.com/Program-alter...s-7761352.html

Title: Program for alternative funding of employee and retiree benefits


Patent ID: US7761352

Issue Date: July 20, 2010

Abstract:An insurance program for funding benefits by maintaining assets in the insurance program that includes an employer or employee owned trust account and at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract obtained directly or indirectly from a captive insurance company. The life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract is purchased with assets from the trust account and the captive insurance company is a least partially owned by the employer. When paying or reimbursing benefits, the employer or the trust may pay the benefit and if the employer pays the benefit, the trust may reimburse the employer.


Claim(s): What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for funding benefits, said computer implemented method comprising: electronically accepting, by a computer, inputs related to specificemployer information; electronically determining, by a computer, an amount of funding to provide to an employer or employee owned trust account; electronically calculating, by a computer, what portion of said funding to use to purchase at least onelife insurance contract or at least one non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract; electronically determining, by a computer and based, at least, on said benefits liability of said employer, assets of said employer, and projected futurebenefits liabilities and assets of said employer, whether to purchase said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract from a non-captive insurance company or a captive insurance company; andelectronically determining, by a computer, what portion of said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract should be reinsured by said captive insurance company if said at least one life insurancecontract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract is purchased from said non-captive insurance company; wherein said trust is the beneficiary of said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurancecontract; and wherein said captive insurance company is an insurance company that is at least partially owned by said employer and insures a risk of said employer who is not solely in the business of insurance.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said at least one life insurance policy or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract is purchased from said non-captive life insurance company.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: estimating benefit amounts to be paid or reimbursed by said employer or said trust.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, determining what commercially available vehicles said at least one of said trust and said captive insurance company invests assets in to generate additional assets.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining that said captive insurance company invests at least a portion of assets in securities of said employer.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein said securities is short term commercial paper of said employer.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, determining whether said captive insurance company should be partially owned by said employer or wholly owned by said employer.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, determining whether said trust should be a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association Trust.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, determining whether said trust should be a Rabbi Trust.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, determining which individuals receiving benefits from said employer should be an insured on said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and healthinsurance contract.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, configuring said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract to maximize a cash value of said at least one life insurancecontract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract for a predetermined period of time, or to optimize at least one of a premium, a liability or another variable in accordance with an employer's needs.

12. A computer system for funding benefits, said computer system comprising: input means for accepting user inputs related to specific employer information; calculating means for determining an amount of funding to provide to a trust account; calculating means for determining what portion of said funding to use to purchase at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract to optimize a tax benefit to said employer; determining means fordetermining, based, at least on said benefits liability of said employer, assets of said employer, and projected future benefits liabilities and assets of said employer, whether to purchase said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelableaccident and health insurance contract from a non-captive insurance company or a captive insurance company; and determining means for determining what portion of said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurancecontract should be reinsured by said captive insurance company if said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract is purchased from said non-captive insurance company; wherein said trust is thebeneficiary of said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract; and wherein said captive insurance company is an insurance company that is at least partially owned by said employer and insures a risk ofsaid employer who is not solely in the business of insurance.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein said determining means determines to purchase said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract from said non-captive life insurance company.

14. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising: estimating means for estimating benefit amounts to be paid or reimbursed by said employer or said trust.

15. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising, determining means for determining what commercially available vehicles said at least one of said trust and said captive insurance company invests assets in to generate additional assets.

16. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising determining means for determining an amount that said captive insurance company invests in securities of said employer.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein said securities is short term commercial paper of said employer.

18. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising, determining means for determining whether said captive insurance company should be partially owned by said employer or wholly owned by said employer.

19. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising, determining means for determining whether said trust should be a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association Trust or a Rabbi Trust.

20. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising, selecting means for selecting which individuals receiving benefits from said employer should be an insured on said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident andhealth insurance contract.

21. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising, determining means for configuring said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract to maximize a cash value of said at least one lifeinsurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract for a predetermined period of time, or to optimize at least one of a premium, a liability or another variable in accordance with an employer's needs.

22. A system for funding benefits, said system comprising: a benefits provider computer configured to communicate with at least one of an employer owned trust account or employee owned trust account, a non-captive insurance company, and acaptive insurance company; wherein said benefits provider computer is configured to perform at least the following steps: providing funding to said trust account, said amount of funding having been determined by said benefits provider; instructing saidtrust account as to what portion of said funding to use to purchase at least one life insurance contract or at least one non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract, said portion being determined based, at least on said benefits liability ofsaid employer, assets of said employer, and projected future benefits liabilities and assets of said employer; instructing said trust account as to whether to purchase said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and healthinsurance contract from said non-captive insurance company or said captive insurance company; and instructing said trust account as to what portion of said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contractshould be reinsured by said captive insurance company if said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract is purchased from said non-captive insurance company; wherein said trust is the beneficiary ofsaid at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract; and wherein said captive insurance company is an insurance company that is at least partially owned by said employer and insures a risk of said employerwho is not solely in the business of insurance.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said benefits provider instructs said trust to purchase said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract from said non-captive life insurance company.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein said benefits provider is an employer.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein said benefits provider instructs said trust and said captive insurance company as to what commercially available vehicles said at least one of said trust and said captive insurance company invests assets into generate additional assets.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein said benefits provider instructs said captive insurance company as to what amount said captive insurance company invests in securities of said employer.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said securities is short term commercial paper of said benefits provider.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein said captive insurance company is formed by said benefits provider and is either partially owned by said benefits provider or wholly owned by said benefits provider.

29. The system of claim 22, wherein said trust is one of a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association Trust or a Rabbi Trust.

30. The system of claim 22, wherein said benefits provider instructs said trust as to which individuals receiving benefits from said benefits provider should be an insured on said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accidentand health insurance contract.

31. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract is configured to maximize a cash value of said at least one life insurance contract or non-cancelable accident and health insurance contract for a predetermined period of time, or to optimize at least one of a premium, a liability or another variable in accordance with said benefits provider's needs.

...

there's still more but it's too long to post.

[campbell]

I like the "Rabbi Trust" detail, though. Cover all bases, right?

[Fuzzy]

Let's see if I got this: an employer contracts to fund a program of benefits to some employees using proceeds from a life insurance contract(from an insurance company that it owns) on another employee's life, all (supposedly) done electronically? This is patent worthy? (I'm not even gonna get into the question of how "worthy" the idea is in the first place...)

[IMP]

yeah, unless i missed something, sounds a little funky. even if it's nonfunky, what's the big deal of this thing they so called created?

[campbell]

You see, because a "device" is involved, and something something something, it's patentable as a "business method" or something something something.

I really hate these types of patents (for the nth time, for large n)

[Mark Cavazos]

Originally Posted by campbell

I like the "Rabbi Trust" detail, though. Cover all bases, right?

I only read a little bit, but it did not seem to fit within PPA.

[campbell]

Originally Posted by Mark Cavazos

I only read a little bit, but it did not seem to fit within PPA.

Then he's not going to have lots of people disputing his patent, now will he?

Patents that depend on legislation.... sound like a bad idea to me.