Chamber to help businesses offer insurance plans – The Kansan – Newton Kansan

By Chad Frey Newton Kansan

This is a moment the Newton Area Chamber of Commerce has worked towards for a long time – helping businesses in town offer health insurance to employees.

“I am hopeful this will really help. I know so many people, their insurances were going up. You try and survive, and find a way to keep paying those benefits. You need to keep people,” said Pam Stevens, director of the Newton Area Chamber of Commerce. “Better benefits is why someone may go somewhere else.”

The Newton Area Chamber of Commerce, through Chamber of Commerce Executives of Kansas, is partnering with 33 other local Chambers of Commerce across Kansas to offer Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Association Health Plan called Chamber Blue of Kansas.

“If we have large pool, I imagine our rates will be good,” Stevens said.

She said there are some “fairly large” chambers in the group, and that the size of pool for insurance coverage could be very strong.

Interested business owners, non-profits, and organizations can attend an informational meeting from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 29th at the Meridian Center.

“Anyone can come to the meetings we are having. You don’t have to be a chamber member to look at this. You do have to become a chamber member to get the insurance,” Stevens said. “They need to go through the process to see if we can help them.”

Cost to attend is $20, and lunch will be provided. To register for this session, visit https://newtonchamberks. org/health-plan/. More informational sessions are being planned and will be announced at a later date.

Each of the informational sessions lead up to a survey that will be performed in August. All of the 33 chambers participating in the insurance plan will participate in the interest survey process which will be key in setting the rates for coverage. “It does not obligate

“It does not obligate you, but if you come in later, you will have to be underwritten,” Stevens said.

The initial insurance rates will be determined in September based on groups/businesses that have completed the survey. Plans will become effective January 1, 2023.

“We’ve been working on this for the last three and half years. Once we knew that associations could do insurance, we really started working on this,” Stevens said.

An Association Health Plan is a type of group medical insurance for organizations that allow smaller companies to access the health insurance savings associated with large group medical coverage. Through this, small businesses, non-profits, and organizations can band together to purchase insurance. That allows more people in the pool, which lowers risk across the pool, and provides more health insurance options, potentially with much more competitive premiums.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of KS has the largest provider network in Kansas with 99% of physicians in-network, and 100% of hospitals in network.

Details about subsequent information sessions will be shared as they are scheduled. Dates will be posted to the Chamber website at www.newtonchamberks. org/health-plan.

For more information regarding the qualification criteria and more, interested parties are asked to visit https://www.bcbsks.com/chamberblueks or contact the Newton Area Chamber of Commerce at (316) 283-2560, or email Stevens at pam@newtonchamberks.org.