ICUBA
Listening and Teamwork Lead to Lasting Improvements in Benefits Administration and Delivery
For over 20 years, ICUBA has provided affordable, high-quality benefits plans for their member organizations by pooling their purchasing power to minimize the costs of fees and commissions. As a Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement (MEWA) and nonprofit higher education benefits cooperative, their services now extend to 29 employers and over 10,000 members, with a priority of finding the best healthcare solutions for each group and participant.
Ameriflex partners with ICUBA to provide Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Reimbursement Arrangements, and COBRA plans. Through their partnership with Ameriflex, they regained the high-quality service standards they strive for by resolving pain points their organizations and participants had faced.
The Problem
In 2020 they began to face issues with their prior benefits administration services that affected each tier of their organization from top to bottom. So their broker approached our team to see if we could remedy their client’s long list of problems.
With 29 organizations under ICUBA’s umbrella offering different combinations of bundled plans, how the plans were being implemented and managed had the potential to make or break the effectiveness of the benefits for the participants. In this case, the implementation and management were producing adverse outcomes.
ICUBA also has a unique vesting rule for participant HRA accounts. After working at a member school for a minimum of 36 months, participants become vested, meaning their HRA funds stay available even after they leave employment until the balance reaches $0.00. Managing this correctly required close coordination between Ameriflex and ICUBA’s EDI vendor, Bswift. The prior vendor wasn’t getting it done.
Some of the issues included:
• A Long six-month implementation window
• Lack of flexibility with overall administrative philosophy
• Limited plan administrator access to participant data
• A very rigid interpretation of guidelines for FSA administration
• Lengthy HRA reimbursement processing
• Difficult substantiation processes
• Poor customer service and communication
• Low satisfaction with outcomes
The Solution
Before any solutions were put in place, Ameriflex took a step back. Rather than jumping straight into implementation, we sat down with ICUBA to walk through every pain point they had experienced, understand how their organization was structured, and figure out together what a better path forward actually looked like.
“We took the time to understand how ICUBA was structured and what wasn’t working for them. From there, we designed a program that aligned with how their organization actually operates,”
said Rashimi Daryman, President of Ameriflex.
From there, Ameriflex designed ICUBA’s services to match the structure and flow of their organization as one company with 29 divisions, rather than forcing them to fit a standard setup. That meant giving them a dedicated point of contact, building out bundled COBRA plans specific to each school’s offerings, and working closely with ICUBA’s EDI vendor, Bswift, to make sure data was flowing correctly before anything went live.
We also built electronic carrier file feeds to keep enrollments, changes, and terminations communicating in real time to ICUBA’s medical, dental, and vision carriers. And at benefit fairs and open enrollments, Ameriflex showed up in person to make sure participants understood their options and felt supported.
The consultative approach didn’t end at go-live either. When ICUBA’s team flagged that their member schools needed better visibility into participant benefits, we got to work. In March 2026, three years into the partnership, Ameriflex activated divisional portal access so that each member school can now view FSA, HRA, and COBRA benefits for their participants all in one place. It’s the kind of ongoing collaboration that turns a vendor relationship into a real partnership.
Participant Enrollment Since Partnering with Ameriflex
Year | Enrolled Participants |
2022 | 9,062 |
2023 | 10,465 |
2024 | 11,048 |
2025 | 10,655 |
2026 | 10,490 |
The slight dip in 2025 and 2026 reflects a change in member school participation, not a decline in service or satisfaction. Overall enrollment remains significantly higher than when ICUBA first partnered with Ameriflex in 2022.
Results & Benefits
Since partnering with Ameriflex, ICUBA has grown from 27 to 29 member schools, and participant enrollment has grown steadily over the years. Their member organizations have reported less noise and smoother processes, and improved service across the board. Some of the specific benefits to the transition include the following:
A shorter implementation period of
8 weeks or less
Flexibility
in plan administrator access
to participant data
Timely HRA reimbursement processing within
an average of
3-5 business days
Improved substantiation
processes with a
95% success rate
Effective support
and communication
on all levels
Satisfied
participants
Why Ameriflex?
ICUBA’s experience highlights what makes Ameriflex different: a willingness to build solutions around the client rather than forcing the client to fit an existing mold. From accommodating a unique HRA vesting structure, to coordinating complex EDI workflows with third-party vendors, to delivering divisional portal access years into the relationship in direct response to client feedback, Ameriflex has consistently demonstrated that its commitment to ICUBA extends far beyond the initial implementation.
For consortiums, associations, and multi-employer organizations seeking a benefits administrator that truly understands the complexity of umbrella structures, ICUBA’s story is a powerful example of what is possible.