Thomas M. Geib, doing business as TAGCO Associates and subsequently as TAGCO Associates, LP, has been in the insurance business since 1973 and has been active in the group Retiree Medical marketplace since its legislative inception.  During the early to mid Nineties, Mr. Geib introduced and helped establish Retiree Medical on a statewide basis through the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Employee Benefits Pool (TML IEBP) and the Texas Association of Counties (TAC).

Such Public Employer Retiree Medical design and pricing features net of commission rates and value added administrative services. In 2006, TAGCO Associates, LP developed TAGCO MET Public Employer Retiree Medical and Rx plans, for the benefit of PEBA (Public Employees Benefit Alliance).

TAGCO Associates, LP continues to provide Retiree Medical and Rx benefits to Texas Public Employers and/or PEBA members.

The TAGCO Multiple Employer Trust was organized and established in October of 2002 for the express purpose of being able to offer Texas employers the benefits and advantages of buying Retiree Medical through the pooling of statewide Retiree Medical risk(s); at that same time, TAGCO Associates, LP was organized.

Since that time, TAGCO Associates, LP has established business and/or broker relationships in every region of the State. TAGCO MET medical plans are filed and approved in thirty to forty (30-40) states. TAGCO MET Retiree Medical and Rx programs are currently established in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and/or have been quoted in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Mexico, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming and elsewhere. TAGCO MET Retiree Medical and Rx plans have historically enjoyed a ninety-five (95) percent persistency level. 

TAGCO Associates, LP functions as a Managing General Agent (MGA) and Managing General Underwriter (MGU) on behalf of the insurance carriers it currently represents.  TAGCO Associates, LP’s role is that of a wholesaler, while the TAGCO Multiple Employer Trust is used by its carriers as a pooling mechanism and entity, for the purpose of being able to underwrite and offer Retiree Medical and Rx benefits on a group basis.

TAGCO Associates, LP, Thomas M. Geib and TAGCO carrier partners have provided solutions and service in the Retiree Medical marketplace since 1991-1992, when Retiree Medical was legislated into existence by the United States Congress via Standardization legislation.  Additionally, Thomas M. Geib has provided such solutions and service in the Texas public employer marketplace since 1992. 

Working together, Mr.Geib and his carrier partners have developed medical and Rx plan designs for public and private employers and have established nationally competitive benefits and rates.  Such combined and cooperative experience has provided Mr. Geib with an insight and attained expertise that has resulted in offering public and/or private employers and their Medicare retirees the very best of product design and pricing.  Moreover, Mr. Geib and his carrier partners have worked together to develop a national niche delivery system via the TAGCO Multiple Employer Trust and a national niche product via the TAGCO MET Retiree Medical net of commission plans, for public employers.

TAGCO MET Retiree Medical and Rx employer plans are currently filed and approved in thirty (30) to forty (40) states.

Retiree Medical, or employer group Medicare insurance, was first introduced circa 1992, when the United States Congress passed legislation “standardizing” the individual Medicare insurance marketplace and required that any and all insurance companies participating in the Medicare supplement marketplace issue Plans A thru J.   Such standardization exempted large employer groups and labor unions and provided an opportunity for several forward thinking companies to create group plans and develop coverage components outside of the standardized arena. 

Since that time, Retiree Medical has matured from a relatively unknown insurance product and option to a more recognized niche product.  Still, however, a very large percentage of the employer marketplace does not know that Retiree Medical exists and/or understand the advantages and benefits of such a program.

Additionally, GASB (Government Accounting Standards Board) legislation, implemented in 2006, will create tremendous pressure in governmental markets and offer numerous Retiree Medical opportunities.

In summary, beginning in 2006, Medicare Part D and GASB will cause employers on a national basis to pause and rethink how they will or will not offer medical benefits to their Medicare-aged retirees.  Such a paradigm change will spurn numerous Retiree Medical opportunities and movement on a state and national level.  Such an opportunity will exist regardless of whether or not an employer offers or does not currently offer Retiree Medical to their retirees.

The TAGCO Multiple Employer Trust (MET) is a Texas-based MET and was established for the benefit of employers;

The TAGCO MET offers—guaranteed issue to eligible Mandatory and/or Voluntary groups, i.e. Mandatory requires a minimum of two (2) lives and a premium contribution by the employer of at least 35% of the retiree rate; Voluntary requires a minimum of two (2) lives, with zero (0) to 34% premium contribution by the employer;

The TAGCO MET offers—fully insured and group rated medical plans to eligible groups;

The TAGCO MET offers—fully insured and group rated generic and brand prescription drug plans to Mandatory or Voluntary groups;

The TAGCO MET offers—employer group plans issued net of commission and/or commissionable plans.

The TAGCO MET  provides a way for small to medium and even large employers a way to sponsor and offer Retiree Medical and Rx benefits to their retirees on a Mandatory or Voluntary basis, i.e. an employer can make available the much needed group medical and Rx benefits with or without a financial contribution or commitment;

The TAGCO MET  allows smaller employers to purchase and/or make available a Retiree Medical program that is generally unavailable in the individual, association and small group marketplace;

The TAGCO MET establishes a means whereby the employer can transfer the risk of insuring Medicare-aged retirees to insurance carriers who specialize in underwriting such risk;

The TAGCO MET  creates a way for the sponsoring employer to “carve-out” the age and claims associated with its active plan and potentially create a more favorable underwriting risk and rate associated with its active medical plan(s);

The TAGCO MET offers employer plans that are fully insured, group rated and guaranteed issue to all eligible Medicare-aged retirees—regardless of age, gender or current health condition; 

The TAGCO MET extends a way for employers to create executive carve-out plans and offer different plans for separate classes of retirees;

The TAGCO MET  allots a way to provide Retiree Medical coverage to Medicare-aged directors of such participating employer;

The TAGCO MET  gives guaranteed issue coverage to Medicare-aged retirees, spouses and/or surviving spouses;

The TAGCO MET  presents flexibility in employer contribution amounts in the event(s) of future change;

The TAGCO MET  supplies a variety of medical and Rx plans from which the sponsoring employer can choose for the purpose of achieving a Mandatory or Voluntary price point;

TAGCO Associates, LP and the TAGCO Multiple Employer Trust are truly unique in the national Medicare marketplace and offer both the brokerage community and employers a wealth of collective expertise via their carriers, administrators and other Medicare-related contacts.  Further, TAGCO Associates, LP is positioned like no other wholesaler or carrier to provide dedicated service, expertise, marketing support, underwriting and pricing advantage to the brokerage community.