Case Study: COBRA Administration Made Easy

Omnify turns to Alegeus for a seamless and straightforward COBRA solution

The company

As a relationship-focused organization, Omnify Employee Benefit Solutions offers personalized education programs that simplify the benefit process for employers and employees. The Nebraska-based company offers a wide range of accounts and services. These include HSAs and FSAs, lifestyle spending accounts, Section 125 Plan benefit administration, Plan documents, COBRA and beyond.

The implementation

Having already partnered with Alegeus to deliver its CDH account programs, Omnify was primed to add Alegeus’ COBRA solution – WealthCare COBRA – to its menu of offerings. They worked closely with the Alegeus product management and implementation team to ensure a smooth onboarding process. In August of 2021, they went live with their first customer on the new platform. Omnify Vice President Tanya Martin-Dick calls the process “magical,” adding, “The COBRA team from Alegeus has been phenomenal.”

The solution in action

A big part of WealthCare COBRA’s appeal for Omnify was the ease of getting new employers into the system. “We call it our ‘three-minute wizard,’” Martin-Dick says. “That’s been huge with a large book of business we just brought on. For comparison, they said that previously it was taking eleven minutes to get info into the system for each employee. That difference really adds up.”

Further, WealthCare COBRA was purposefully developed to support employers of all sizes. That includes larger, more complicated benefit designs that strain the limits of other platforms. For Omnify clients like school districts, which must factor in details like union/non-union rates, seniority and tenure, the ability to handle complexity is a powerful differentiator.

Features & functionality

Once an employee is entered, Omnify and its clients appreciate how WealthCare COBRA runs with set-it-and-forget-it efficiency. “Our clients are loving the system,” says Katie Davis, Omnify’s COBRA manager. “It mirrors the language they’re familiar with on the HSA side within WealthCare Administration. It aligns with the kinds of tasks an HR professional is doing every day. Each screen has a purpose; it has a flow.”

WealthCare COBRA’s innovative reporting flexibility has also helped Omnify break free from what has historically been a rigid and labor-intensive process. For example, selecting and running reports is now highly intuitive. “I like that I don’t have to run three different reports to get all of the information,” Davis says. “I can send the client something that doesn’t require them to click through multiple documents to get their full COBRA profile. They can also go in and check or uncheck the fields they need or don’t need.”

And perhaps most importantly, WealthCare COBRA helps Omnify ease the COBRA transition for laid-off individuals who are already facing a stressful time. The consumer is guided through the post-employment health benefits process with a simple, fully online “shopping cart” experience. Rather than wait for the mail, they can make their elections same-day. Enrollments are then reported daily to insurance carriers using the platform’s automated eligibility reporting feature.

A look ahead

As Omnify looks to expand its footprint throughout the region, WealthCare COBRA has proven to be a valuable arrow in the company’s quiver. “Now that brokers and consultants have learned that we’re offering COBRA and have had a chance to see a demo, when we get an RFP, it includes everything. Brokers are excited because it’s easier for them to sell a bundle,” Martin-Dick says.

And with all the time it saves, the team is freed up to focus on growth initiatives. “For us to scale, it’s important that have these efficiencies in place,” Davis says. “Less time behind the desk means more time to focus on growing the business.”