Milliman Health Care ETFs Begin Trading

Milliman Inc., a global consulting and actuarial firm, announced Tuesday the launch of two active exchange-traded funds intended to hedge against the rising cost of U.S. health care. The launch comes roughly six months after Milliman filed a registration statement for the ETFs with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Milliman Healthcare Inflation Guard ETF (MHIG) and the Milliman Healthcare Inflation Plus ETF (MHIP) will begin trading on April 21 on the NYSE Arca exchange. Both ETFs are advised by Milliman Financial Risk Management LLC.

The ETFs hit the market as rising health care costs continue to strain Americans, both before and during retirement.

According to an EBRI survey, also released Tuesday, 58% of surveyed workers and 40% of surveyed retirees said health care costs hurt their ability to save for and live comfortably in retirement in 2026. Fewer than half of workers and retirees said they have calculated how much they will need to save for health care expenses in retirement. Meanwhile, employers predicted last year that the median health care costs for 2026 would be 9% greater than 2025 levels, according to the Business Group on Health’s 2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey.

The MHIG fund seeks to generate returns that generally equal the U.S. health care cost inflation rate over time, as measured by the Milliman Health Trend Guidelines, a series of indexes providing data on the cost, utilization and unit costs of health care services, according to a March filing with the SEC. The MHIP aims to generate returns that, over time, exceed the U.S. health care cost inflation rate.

“The [MHIP] tries to overshoot [inflation] every month for people that are younger and have more risk tolerance,” said Adam Schenck, a principal in and managing director of fund services at Milliman Financial Risk Management, who serves as a portfolio manager for the ETFs, in an interview with PLANADVISER last month. “That’s why we’re launching two … there’s [the MHIG] that, as you get closer to retirement … shoots right [at] the bogey.”

The ETFs consist of an actively managed mix of health sector and related equities, U.S. Treasury bonds, Treasury inflation-protected securities, corporate bonds and alternative assets, including commodities and liquid alternative strategies, according to the SEC filing.

The multi-asset portfolios use a quantitative model that aims to adjust—at least monthly—the funds’ portfolios as the U.S. health care cost inflation rate changes over time, the filing stated. Milliman anticipated increasing the funds’ equity and/or commodity exposure during periods of higher U.S. health care cost inflation and increasing their debt exposure during periods of lower U.S. health care cost inflation.

In addition, Schenck says MHIG has assumed the assets and track record of a separately managed account Milliman FRM has managed since April 22, 2024, the performance of which Milliman will transfer into the ETF.

Schenck says HealthView Services and Milliman will also launch a retirement health care cost calculator on Tuesday. When using the calculator, users can enter their age, expected retirement age, expected retirement state and health status to estimate their potential retirement health care costs.

Milliman FRM advised approximately $242 billion in global assets as of December 31, 2025.