The EIIA Employee Benefit Program includes Life, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Comprehensive Major Medical, Dental, Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability and Vision Care. Participating institutions have flexibility when determining the types of benefits they wish to provide to their employees.

The EIIA Employee Benefit Program currently serves over 70 institutions and provides services in three main categories: health, life and long-term disability.

In 1981, GBHEM established a self-funded trust vehicle for United Methodist institutions. Institutions listed by the University Senate of the UMC are eligible to participate in the programs available. Participating institutions establish their own Voluntary Employee's Beneficiary Association (VEBA) which then qualifies for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code. EIIA is responsible for maintaining all trust funds, educating institutions on current benefit issues, assisting in overall maintenance of the benefit plans and recommending alternatives as needed to maximize the value of benefit dollars spent.

In 1991, the institutions of the ELCA became eligible to join the Health Plans, and in 2001, the APCU institutions joined. In 2001 the EIIA Custodian Trust was formed to pool resources and share expenses.

Each institution adopts its own benefit plan to meet the needs of its employees. HMO, PPO, and POS vendors are utilized. Deductible levels, out-of-pocket maximums and other benefits vary among participating institutions. Most institutions include their dental, vision and short-term disability benefits.

The health coverage is self- funded among all participants and the financial risk is limited by the purchase of excess loss insurance. Contributions to the trust funds are used primarily to pay claims for the institution's participating employees and dependents while administrative and insurance expenses are shared among all participants.

In addition to the excess loss insurance, an additional stage of financial relief is provided to each member through two intermember sharing fund corridors. The intermember sharing funds stabilize the effect of large claims, or the accumulation of claims, on any one institution, and provide pricing stability for the institutions.

The EIIA Group Life, Accident and Health Insurance Trust was created to allow institutions to take advantage of fully insured group term life coverage. Participating institutions choose their own schedule of benefits and pay into the plan based upon their volume of insurance coverage in force.

The group life operates as a retrospectively rated insurance plan. At the close of each policy year, if the costs are less than the premiums paid into the plan, dividends are available to be distributed to the participating institutions. The AD&D, optional dependent life, and supplemental life are conventionally rated and fully insured by the insurance carrier on a guaranteed cost basis.

The Long Term Disability Trust offers features generally unavailable to institutions that individually purchase LTD coverage. The features include reduced rates and enhanced benefits, such as Retirement Income Protection and more generous protection for disabilities related to Behavioral Health. Third-party administrative services for an institution's short-term disability coverage are also available.