NYC’s Largest Labor Benefits Event Teamster Center Services hosted the 29th Annual Health and Benefits Expo Sept. 15th at the Sheraton New York Times Square.
The event brings together union benefit plan trustees and administrators with service providers, so that those who oversee union benefits can explore potentially cost-saving new services at a one-stop shop.
“We realized 29 years ago that there was this gap and vendors don’t have an opportunity to talk to decision makers and vice versa,” the fund administrator at Teamster Center Services who helped organize the event.
The expo included workshop presentations Hello Heart, a heart health app; Payer Matrix, a team that works to reduce the cost of specialty drugs; MagnaCare, an administrative healthcare solutions company; and I Capital Rx, a pharmacy benefit manager, in addition to 57 different exhibitors from all over the U.S.
Hundreds of attendees – many of them union benefit decision makers and key staff – came out to the expo. Johnson said that the existence of the expo is a reflection of Teamster Center Services Fund’s (TCS) innovation. TCS is a Taft-Hartley Trust Fund that provides employee assistance and behavioral health management for the health plans of 20 teamster unions in the New York Metropolitan area.
Since it opened in 1962, Teamster Center Services has distinguished itself with a reputation as a concierge agency while still aggressively pursuing cost-effective health care services.
There are plenty of other employee or union member assistance programs that function similarly to the Teamsters Center Services in providing referrals and case management services to union members. What sets the agency apart is that it takes an active role in negotiating health service rates for its members, Johnson said. When the fund encounters a new health service provider that is charging exorbitant rates for members, it actively works to find a lower rate.
“The expo was extremely well attended. We had over 320 people register. It was a huge success on every level. Next year’s is September 19, 2024,” Johnson said.
