All Oregon employers must provide workers' compensation coverage for their employees to pay for the costs associated with workplace injuries and illness. Expenses for physicians, hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation and medicine must be covered entirely. Employees who are unable to readily return to work after an injury are eligible for compensation during their time off.

Oregon employers have two methods of discharging this responsibility. The first is to purchase insurance and the second is to self-insure. Until just a few years ago, most private educational institutions were simply too small to meet the State's security requirements for self-insurance. Historically, only larger institutions have been able to take advantage of the cost savings and customized services associated with self-insurance. But now, there is way for small and mid-size institutions to reduce their costs: participation in OEEWCT.

Many of Oregon's private educational employers have used their trade association as a stepping-stone to join OEEWCT. Each has benefited from the outstanding service and net-cost approach unique to the way self-insured trusts manage the expenses of workers' compensation risk.

Here is a summary of some of the major benefits these employers have come to expect from Trust membership:

• Lower ultimate cost-of-risk
• Increased control over the process
  
• Employer-based governance
  
• Nonprofit pricing policies
  
• Hands-on loss prevention services
  
• Employer-sensitive claims service