Trust History, Structure and Governance
RAGHT was formed on July 01, 2002 by The cities of Winslow and Holbrook and the Town of Parker, three of Arizona’s smaller rural municipal governments. Since that time, RAGHT has grown and diversified its membership to include various combinations of cities, towns, fire districts, special districts and charter schools. Initial Trust membership terms are for not-less-than thirty six months and renewal memberships, when offered, are for three, four or five years at the discretion of the governing board of the renewing entity. Both initial and renewal membership applications are subject to affirmative vote of the Trustees.
The Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of one Trustee and one Alternate Trustee from each member employer. Each member has one equal vote in matters before the Trust, with Alternate Trustees voting only in the absence of their entity’s Trustee. RAGHT operates in accordance with its Declaration of Trust, Bylaws and Arizona law and regulation applicable to public entity pools. The Trust is audited annually by an independent auditor retained by the Trust and examined every five years by the Arizona Department of Insurance.
RAGHT does not have employees. Instead, the various operational components including legal, actuarial, audit, network leasing, Wellness, claims administration, prescription benefit management and case management, as well as overall plan management services, are contracted out to a range of vendor partners. This structure helps drive down operating expense while enhancing Trustees’ flexibility to maintain responsive vendors and adapt to the changing environment in which RAGHT operates.