# Group Self-Insurance Captives: The Complete Guide to Texas

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<div class="two-column-bulleted-facts-card">
<h3>Key Takeaways</h3>
<ul class="fact-list">
 <li><strong>Pooled Scale for Mid-Sized Business:</strong> Captives allow unrelated employers (typically 50-500 employees) to combine their risk pools, mimicking the actuarial stability of a massive enterprise.</li>
 <li><strong>Not for Large Enterprises:</strong> Companies with thousands of employees have sufficient scale to self-fund on their own and do not need to pool risk or share collateral in a captive structure.</li>
 <li><strong>Return of Underwriting Profit:</strong> Unlike fully-insured policies where the carrier keeps unspent premiums, captives return unspent claims dollars to employers as dividends.</li>
 <li><strong>Three-Tiered Risk Structure:</strong> Claims risk is distributed across an employer's specific retention, the shared captive risk pool, and catastrophic commercial stop-loss insurance.</li>
 <li><strong>ERISA Preemption:</strong> Because the underlying plans are self-funded, they bypass most Texas state insurance mandates, granting maximum flexibility in benefit and pharmacy design.</li>
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For executives, HR leaders, and CFOs navigating the enterprise health insurance market, the transition away from traditional, fully-insured coverage is often driven by a need for financial control. Fully-insured health plans operate as a sunk cost: you pay a fixed premium to an insurance carrier, and if your workforce remains exceptionally healthy, the carrier retains 100% of the underwriting profit. When claims inevitably rise in subsequent years, your premiums compound. To break this cycle, large enterprises transition to self-funded models, where the company directly pays for its own claims, backed by a catastrophic stop-loss policy, retaining any unspent cash in good years.

However, genuine, standalone self-funding requires a vast pool of employees to statistically normalize healthcare utilization. A single catastrophic medical event—like a premature birth or a complex cancer diagnosis—can severely destabilize cash flow for a 150-person company if they attempt to self-fund alone. 

This is exactly where the **Group Self-Insurance Captive** comes in. 

A group captive is a cooperative funding vehicle that allows multiple mid-sized, unrelated employers to band together to create their own shared insurance entity. By pooling thousands of covered lives across dozens of member companies, mid-market employers achieve the scale, predictability, and actuarial smoothing previously reserved for Fortune 500 companies. This structure exists specifically for businesses that are too small to safely self-insure alone. Enterprises large enough to shoulder standalone self-funding have no need to share risk, post collective collateral, or pool with others. 

This comprehensive guide examines the specific mechanics, financial structures, compliance requirements, and operational realties of joining a group health insurance captive, outlining exactly how HR and finance leaders in Texas can leverage this model to reclaim control over their healthcare spend.

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## The Core Mechanics of a Group Captive

To properly evaluate a group captive, leadership teams must first understand the structural difference between fully-insured arrangements, standalone self-funding, and the captive model. 

In a traditional fully-insured plan, your company transfers 100% of the financial risk to a carrier (like UnitedHealthcare or Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas) in exchange for a non-refundable, fixed premium. The carrier dictates the plan design, holds the claims data, and keeps the profits. In a standalone self-funded plan, the employer bears direct financial responsibility for every employee's medical claims, capping their exposure by purchasing a stop-loss insurance policy. The employer gains access to their own data and keeps any money not spent on claims. 

A group captive sits directly between these two worlds. It utilizes a self-funded architecture but distributes the middle-layer risk across a consortium of companies. When a company joins a captive, its financial obligation is split into a three-tiered "bucket" system. Understanding these three distinct layers of risk retention is the master key to understanding how captives generate value.

### Tier 1: Employer Specific Retention (The Primary Bucket)
The first layer of risk is borne entirely by the individual employer, just as it would be in a standard self-funded plan. The employer sets a "specific deductible" for their own company's claims—for example, the first $25,000 of any individual employee's medical costs in a plan year. 

If John, an employee, incurs $15,000 in routine medical expenses, those claims are paid entirely out of the employer's Tier 1 funds. None of that cost hits the broader captive pool, and no stop-loss insurance is triggered. By retaining this predictable, low-dollar risk, the employer avoids paying an insurance carrier a margin to manage routine, expected healthcare costs.

### Tier 2: The Captive Risk Pool (The Shared Bucket)
The true innovation of the captive model exists in the second layer. When an individual employee's claims exceed the Tier 1 specific retention (e.g., surpassing $25,000), the liability spills into the captive pool. 

The captive layer covers claims within a defined intermediate corridor—for example, claims between $25,000 and $250,000. This is the shared risk layer. Every employer in the captive contributes a set premium into this collective bucket. If John's medical bills for a complex surgery reach $150,000, the first $25,000 is paid by his employer (Tier 1), and the remaining $125,000 is paid out of the captive's shared pool (Tier 2).

Why is this shared layer necessary? Because mid-sized companies experience volatile claims. If a 100-employee company suffers three $150,000 claims in one year, attempting to self-fund those alone would be devastating. By spreading that middle-tier risk across 50 employers representing 5,000 employees, the law of large numbers smooths out the volatility. The captive behaves like a single, massive enterprise, capable of absorbing these medium-sized catastrophic hits without severely impacting any individual member's cash flow.

### Tier 3: Catastrophic Stop-Loss (The Reinsurance Bucket)
No captive operates with infinite liability. To protect both the individual employers and the shared captive pool from catastrophic, multi-million-dollar claims, the captive purchases aggregate and specific stop-loss insurance from a commercial reinsurance carrier. 

If John's medical bills escalate to $1,000,000 due to a severe long-term illness, the employer pays the first $25,000 (Tier 1), the captive pool pays up to its limit—say, $250,000 (Tier 2)—and the commercial stop-loss carrier steps in to pay the remaining $725,000 (Tier 3). Because the stop-loss carrier is insulated from all claims below $250,000, the premiums they charge for this catastrophic Tier 3 coverage are significantly lower than the premiums a small employer would pay for a standalone stop-loss policy attaching at $25,000.

<div class="comparison-table-outer"><div class="comparison-table-scroll"><table class="comparison-table">
  <thead>
    <tr><th>Risk Layer</th><th>Who Pays the Claims?</th><th>Typical Financial Threshold</th><th>Strategic Purpose</th></tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td><strong>Tier 1: Employer Retention</strong></td><td>The individual employer (your company)</td><td>$0 to $25,000 / $50,000 per member</td><td>Retain expected, predictable, low-dollar claims locally, avoiding carrier margin markup.</td></tr>
    <tr><td><strong>Tier 2: The Shared Captive Pool</strong></td><td>The collective captive entity (all member employers)</td><td>$25,000 to $250,000 / $500,000 per member</td><td>Smooth out claims volatility through the law of large numbers. Return unspent funds as dividends.</td></tr>
    <tr><td><strong>Tier 3: Commercial Stop-Loss</strong></td><td>Third-party reinsurance carrier</td><td>Claims exceeding $250,000+</td><td>Protect the captive and the employers from multi-million-dollar catastrophic wipeouts.</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table></div></div>

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## The Financial Architecture: Cash Flow, Collateral, and Dividends

For finance leaders, the transition from fully-insured to a captive represents a paradigm shift in accounting. Fully-insured premiums are a fixed operational expense. Captive funding behaves more like a capitalized business investment, blending fixed costs, variable liabilities, and the potential for direct financial returns.

### Understanding Fixed vs. Variable Costs
When you participate in a captive, your monthly financial commitment is divided into fixed costs and a variable claims fund. 

**Fixed Costs:**
*   **Third-Party Administrator (TPA) Fees:** The cost to process claims, issue ID cards, and administer the plan.
*   **Network Access Fees:** The cost to rent a provider network (such as a regional Texas PPO).
*   **Stop-Loss Premiums:** Payments to the reinsurance carrier for Tier 3 protection.
*   **Captive Management Fees:** Administrative costs paid to the firm managing the captive's legal and accounting structures.

**Variable Costs (The Claims Fund):**
The remainder of your monthly payment goes into your claims fund. This money is held to pay your expected Tier 1 claims and your premium contribution to the Tier 2 captive pool. The defining feature of self-funding is that *you only spend this money if claims actually occur*. If your employees are healthy, these variable dollars remain untouched.

### The Role of Collateral
Because a captive is essentially a miniature insurance company owned by its members, it must be properly capitalized. State and international insurance regulators require captives to hold enough reserve capital to ensure they can pay out unexpected claims. 

When your company joins a captive, you will be required to post collateral. This is typically done via a Letter of Credit (LOC) from your bank or a direct cash deposit. The collateral serves as a safety net: if the shared captive pool suffers a disastrous year and exhausts its collected premiums before the stop-loss reinsurance kicks in, the captive can draw on member collateral to pay medical providers. 

This is the central risk of joining a captive, referred to as "assessability." If other members of your captive suffer catastrophic claims that drain the shared pool, your collateral could theoretically be tapped to cover the shortfall. This underscores why captive underwriting is stringent; the captive administrators heavily vet incoming companies to ensure they have stable financial footing and generally healthy populations. You are entering a shared financial fate with these other employers.

### Underwriting Profits and Dividends
The primary financial reward for joining a captive—and accepting the collateral risk—is the return of underwriting profit. 

In the fully-insured market, if a carrier collects $2,000,000 in premium from your company but only pays out $1,200,000 in claims, the carrier keeps the $800,000 margin. In a captive, that equation is fundamentally re-written. 

If your Tier 1 claims are lower than expected, the unspent dollars in your specific retention account never leave your control. Furthermore, if the overall captive pool performs well—meaning the aggregated members experience fewer mid-tier claims than actuaries predicted—the unspent premium in the shared Tier 2 bucket is distributed back to the member companies. 

Because medical claims have a "tail" (a gap between when a medical service occurs and when the provider ultimately bills the plan), captives do not distribute dividends immediately on December 31st. Profits are typically held in reserve for an extended run-out period (often 12 to 24 months after the close of the plan year) to ensure all final claims are paid before surplus cash is released to the participating employers.

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## Why the Mid-Market Needs Captives (and Large Enterprises Do Not)

When assessing group coverage options, determining applicability is critical. Captives are a specialized tool engineered to solve a very specific problem for a very specific segment of the market. 

### The Mid-Market Sweet Spot (50 - 500 Employees)
A company with 150 employees exists in a precarious position in the health insurance ecosystem. They are large enough to feel the crushing weight of compounding 9% annual fully-insured rate hikes, but they are generally too small to safely navigate standalone self-funding. 

In standalone self-funding, a 150-employee group might purchase a stop-loss policy that kicks in at $35,000 per claim. But commercial stop-loss carriers are inherently wary of small populations. If an employee is diagnosed with advanced leukemia, the stop-loss carrier will pay the claims for that plan year. However, at renewal time, the carrier will actively look at that known, ongoing cancer risk and apply a "laser." A laser is a specific, drastically elevated deductible placed on a known high-risk individual. The carrier might say, "We will renew your stop-loss policy, but the deductible for this specific employee is now $500,000 instead of $35,000." 

For a 150-employee company, absorbing a $500,000 laser out of operating cash flow is financially catastrophic. Group captives solve this problem. Because the captive represents 5,000+ lives, it can negotiate "no new laser" contracts with stop-loss carriers, or absorb the laser within the shared Tier 2 pool, protecting the individual mid-sized employer from a devastating renewal.

### Why Large Enterprises Bypass Captives
Conversely, a company with 3,000 employees does not need a captive. Actuarially, a group of 3,000 lives operates with enough predictable statistical consistency that they can self-fund independently. They have the premium volume and cash flow to absorb the volatility of middle-tier claims on their own balance sheet. 

For a massive enterprise, joining a captive would mean paying unnecessary captive management fees, subjecting themselves to shared risk with external companies, and locking up capital in shared collateral. Large enterprises execute direct, standalone self-funded contracts with TPAs and stop-loss carriers without the intermediary pooling mechanism. If your organization is approaching this size, you should evaluate standalone architectures rather than pooled captive models.

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## Stop-Loss Mechanics in a Captive Environment

The structural integrity of a captive relies entirely on its reinsurance contracts. The terms written into the commercial stop-loss policies dictate exactly when the captive's liability ends and the broader insurance market's liability begins. Finance and HR leaders must grasp two primary stop-loss mechanics:

### Specific Stop-Loss (ISL)
Individual Specific Stop-Loss (ISL) protects against massive catastrophic claims incurred by a single member. As outlined previously, this insurance covers the top layer of risk above the captive's retention threshold. 

However, the vital element to understand is the *contract basis*. Stop-loss is written based on when claims are incurred (the date of service) and when they are paid (the date the check is cut). Standard fully-insured plans cover any service that happens during the year. Self-funded stop-loss is more rigid. 

Contracts are noted by fractions, such as "12/12" or "12/15."
*   **12/12 Contract:** The stop-loss carrier will only reimburse for claims that are both incurred *and* paid within the 12-month plan year. This is highly risky, as an expensive hospital stay in December will not be billed and paid until January, causing it to fall outside the 12/12 protection window.
*   **12/15 Contract:** The carrier covers claims incurred within the 12-month plan year, provided they are paid within 15 months (giving a 3-month run-out grace period to process year-end bills).
*   **24/12 Contract:** Used in renewal years, this covers claims incurred over the last 24 months but paid in the current 12-month period, ensuring continuity of protection for lingering claims.

Captives utilize their negotiating leverage to secure highly favorable contract bases (like 24/12 continuous coverage) and "no-laser at renewal" clauses, shielding their members from the harsh underwriting tactics stop-loss carriers often apply to standalone small groups.

### Aggregate Stop-Loss (ASL)
While Specific Stop-Loss protects against one person having a multi-million-dollar claim, Aggregate Stop-Loss (ASL) protects against *everyone* having a slightly worse-than-average year. 

Actuaries predict the expected total claims for the year. The Aggregate Stop-Loss policy kicks in if total cumulative claims exceed a defined threshold—usually 120% to 125% of expected claims. If an aggressive flu season, multiple minor surgeries, and general high utilization push the group's total spending beyond that 125% line, the ASL policy reimburses the captive for the overrun. This provides the CFO with a hard ceiling on worst-case scenario budgeting; the total financial exposure in any given year is mathematically capped.

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## Unbundling the Health Plan: TPAs, Networks, and Pharmacy Benefits

One of the most significant strategic advantages of leaving the fully-insured market and entering a captive is the ability to unbundle the components of your health plan. 

Fully-insured carriers offer bundled products: they mandate their own administrative platform, mandate their own proprietary provider network, and mandate their own in-house Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM). The employer has zero ability to optimize these components individually. A group captive, utilizing ERISA preemption, strips this bundle apart, allowing employers to select best-in-class vendors for each function.

### The Third-Party Administrator (TPA)
In a captive, you do not hire an insurance carrier to pay claims; you hire a Third-Party Administrator (TPA). The TPA provides the logistical chassis of the health plan. They process the claims, issue the ID cards, provide customer service to your employees, and handle the intricate accounting required to route funds between your Tier 1 bucket, the captive's Tier 2 bucket, and the stop-loss carrier. 

Crucially, the TPA acts as your agent, not your adversary. In a fully-insured model, the carrier's financial incentive is to deny claims to preserve their profit margin. In a self-funded TPA arrangement, the TPA takes a flat per-employee-per-month (PEPM) administrative fee. They have no financial stake in the claims themselves, aligning their operational incentives with your desire for accurate, transparent processing.

### Network Access in Texas
Employees still need a network of doctors and hospitals. TPAs do not employ doctors. Instead, they "rent" access to established provider networks. 

For Texas employers, network selection is a localized strategic decision. A captive can lease a broad, national network (such as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield network or the UnitedHealthcare Choice Plus network) to provide sweeping coverage for a distributed workforce. Alternatively, if a company's workforce is heavily concentrated in specific metro areas—like Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio—the TPA can lease a high-performance regional network or build direct-contracting relationships with specific hospital systems, securing better reimbursement rates in exchange for driving volume to those local providers. 

### Carving Out the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM)
Prescription drug costs, specifically the explosion of specialty medications, are often the primary driver of healthcare inflation for mid-market employers. 

Traditional carrier-owned PBMs operate on "spread pricing," where they negotiate deep discounts from drug manufacturers but charge the health plan a higher price, keeping the margin (the spread) in the dark. They also routinely keep the manufacturer rebates instead of passing them back to the employer.

By entering a captive, you gain the authority to "carve out" your pharmacy benefits. You can hire a transparent, pass-through PBM that charges a flat administrative fee and legally passes 100% of the manufacturer rebates directly back to your company's claims fund. For a 250-employee group, replacing a traditional spread-pricing PBM with a transparent PBM can routinely strip hundreds of thousands of dollars of hidden margin out of the annual healthcare spend, dropping those savings directly to the bottom line.

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## Regulatory and Compliance Framework

A critical misunderstanding among mid-market employers is the assumption that joining a captive means subverting insurance regulations. The reality is that captives operate in a highly regulated, albeit different, legal framework than standard fully-insured policies. 

### ERISA Preemption and State Mandates
The foundational law governing self-funded group health plans is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). ERISA is a federal law that regulates employer-sponsored benefits. 

The most powerful aspect of ERISA is that it contains a preemption clause overriding most state-level health insurance regulations. The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) dictates that fully-insured policies sold in the state must cover a specific, expansive list of medical services. Because plans inside a captive are legally classified as self-funded, they are shielded by ERISA. They do not have to comply with state-specific mandated benefits, premium taxes, or localized plan design restrictions. 

This grants the employer tremendous flexibility to design a health plan tailored specifically to their workforce's demographic needs, rather than buying an off-the-shelf, government-mandated product. However, it is vital to note that while the *health plan* is regulated by ERISA, the *stop-loss insurance* purchased by the captive is regulated by the states where the captive or employers are domiciled. 

### ACA Compliance and Fiduciary Duty
Self-funding does not exempt an employer from the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) participating in a captive must still ensure their plan meets the ACA's Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) and affordability thresholds to avoid Employer Shared Responsibility penalties. 

Furthermore, because the employer is funding the claims, the ACA reporting burden shifts. Fully-insured employers rely on the carrier to file Form 1095-B. In a captive, the employer is responsible for completing Part III of Form 1095-C for all enrolled employees, detailing the specific months they held self-funded coverage. Captive members must also pay the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee directly to the IRS annually.

Finally, under ERISA, the employer acts as a plan fiduciary. This means the company is legally obligated to manage the health plan strictly in the best financial interest of the plan participants (the employees). The transparent nature of captive data allows employers to demonstrate they are actively auditing claims, removing unnecessary vendor fees, and executing their fiduciary duties—a task that is nearly impossible when a fully-insured carrier refuses to provide line-item claims data.

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## Homogeneous vs. Heterogeneous Captives

When executing a captive strategy, an employer will typically evaluate two distinct structural variants: homogeneous and heterogeneous pools. The decision fundamentally impacts the risk profile and the cultural alignment of the captive.

### Homogeneous (Industry-Specific) Captives
A homogeneous captive restricts membership to companies operating within a single industry—for example, a captive built exclusively for construction firms, or auto dealerships, or regional hospital systems. 

The advantage of a homogeneous captive is precise risk alignment. Safety protocols, demographic challenges, and workforce behaviors are highly consistent across members. A captive composed entirely of heavy manufacturing firms understands that their primary claims drivers will be musculoskeletal issues and orthopedic surgeries, and they can collectively deploy targeted, industry-specific wellness and safety programs to drive those exact costs down. The shared risk pool acts with singular focus.

### Heterogeneous (Mixed-Industry) Captives
A heterogeneous captive accepts companies from diverse, unrelated industries. A single captive might contain a software company, a regional plumbing contractor, a mid-sized law firm, and a chain of local restaurants. 

The strategic advantage of a heterogeneous captive is risk diversification. Different industries have different claims cycles, demographic profiles, and utilization patterns. By mixing white-collar and blue-collar workforces, the captive protects itself from an industry-specific economic downturn or a localized utilization spike. Heterogeneous captives are generally easier to join simply because they have a broader acceptable underwriting profile.

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## The Risks and Exit Strategies: The Reality of "Run-Out"

Advising an executive team on a captive strategy requires an objective assessment of the risks. Captives are complex financial instruments. They require long-term vision, and they are notoriously difficult to unwind quickly if an employer decides they want out.

### The Risk of Assessability
As noted, member collateral is on the line. If the captive performs poorly, the underwriting profits evaporate. In worst-case scenarios—where claims blow past expectations but fail to trigger stop-loss limits—the captive board can issue a capital assessment, requiring members to inject additional cash to keep the captive solvent. While reputable captives utilize conservative actuarial modeling and aggressive stop-loss protections to make assessments exceedingly rare, the legal mechanism exists, and CFOs must account for it on their risk ledger.

### Trapped Capital and the Run-Out Period
A captive is not a year-to-year purchasing decision like a fully-insured plan. It is a long-term strategic commitment, typically requiring a minimum operational horizon of three to five years to realize meaningful financial returns. 

If a company decides to leave a captive and return to the fully-insured market, they cannot simply walk away on December 31st. The claims incurred during their final year in the captive will continue to be billed by medical providers for months into the following year. This is the "run-out" period. 

The departing employer remains financially responsible for funding those tail claims out of their retention accounts, and their collateral is typically locked by the captive administrators for 12 to 24 months after departure until actuaries can definitively certify that every last claim tied to that employer has been settled. Leaving a captive requires precision cash-flow management, as the employer will simultaneously be paying new fully-insured premiums to their new carrier while funding the tail claims in their old captive account.

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## Step-by-Step: How to Enter a Group Captive in Texas

Transitioning to a captive requires a sophisticated procurement process, usually led by an specialized employee benefits consultant. It is not an off-the-shelf purchase. 

**1. The Feasibility Study (Months 1-2):**
The process begins with an actuary analyzing your company's demographic data, historical premium spend, and whatever limited claims data your current fully-insured carrier is willing to provide. The actuary builds a predictive model to determine if your specific workforce has the stability required to benefit from self-funding, generating expected, best-case, and worst-case financial scenarios.

**2. Captive Selection and Underwriting (Months 2-3):**
If the feasibility study is favorable, the broker approaches established captive management firms. Your company will undergo strict medical underwriting. The captive's risk committee reviews your data to ensure you aren't bringing a disproportionate amount of known catastrophic risk into their shared pool. 

**3. Vendor Selection (Month 4):**
Once accepted into the captive, your team must architect the plan itself. This involves interviewing and selecting a TPA, establishing the network access (e.g., selecting a regional Texas network), and negotiating the transparent PBM contract.

**4. Implementation and Employee Education (Months 5-6):**
Because the underlying network often mirrors standard carrier networks, the employee experience remains relatively seamless—they still receive an ID card, find doctors in a directory, and pay co-pays. However, HR teams must aggressively educate employees on new cost-containment programs implemented by the captive, such as mandatory generic step-therapy or incentives for utilizing high-value outpatient surgical centers over expensive hospital systems.

<div class="eligibility-box">
<h2>Do You Qualify? — Self-Check</h2>
<p style="font-size:0.9rem;color:#334155;margin-bottom:12px;">Review these baseline parameters to determine if your organization is a viable candidate for a group captive evaluation.</p>
<ul>
<li>&#10003; <strong>Employee Count:</strong> Typically 50 to 500 enrolled employees.</li>
<li>&#10003; <strong>Financial Stability:</strong> Consistent, positive cash flow capable of posting collateral and managing variable monthly claims expenses.</li>
<li>&#10003; <strong>Risk Tolerance:</strong> Executive leadership must be willing to accept short-term claims volatility in exchange for long-term underwriting profit.</li>
<li>&#10003; <strong>Data Desire:</strong> HR and Finance teams possess a mandate to actively manage healthcare costs rather than passively accepting annual carrier rate hikes.</li>
</ul>
</div>

For mid-market Texas employers tired of the fully-insured treadmill, group self-insurance captives represent the most viable pathway to gaining institutional control over healthcare costs. By pooling risk, isolating the margin traditionally held by carriers, and leveraging ERISA to strip away restrictive mandates, companies can finally align their healthcare spend with their actual corporate performance. 

It requires financial discipline, a willingness to post collateral, and a long-term strategic horizon—but for organizations trapped in the void between small-business plans and standalone enterprise self-funding, the captive model is the definitive structural solution.

<div class="cta-box">
  <h3>Get a Custom Quote for Enterprise Group Captives</h3>
  <p>Speak with a licensed advisor to evaluate feasibility models, captive underwriting requirements, and stop-loss architecture for your organization.</p>
  <a href="#" onclick="openLeadModal();return false;">Get a Free Consultation</a>
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<div class="related-resources"><p>Related resources:</p>
<a href="/self-funded/">Self-Funded: The Complete Guide to Texas</a>
<a href="/carriers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-texas-vs-united-healthcare/">Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas vs. United Healthcare Health Insurance in Texas</a>
<a href="/houston/">Health Insurance in Houston, TX</a>
<a href="/what-is-a-network/">What Is a Network?</a>
</div>

Frequently Asked Questions