Many small businesses do not have the ability to offer health insurance to their employees, some have the ability but would like to look at other options.
The Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce has been working on a plan to help that situation.
An association health plan through the Chamber is being formulated to help members to be able to offer Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance to their employees.
“Our hope is that this will be beneficial to particularly smaller mom and pop, locally owned businesses who are not otherwise able to obtain or offer health insurance as an employee benefit which would also help recruit and retain employees,”Chamber Executive Director Lindsay Madison said. “A business just needs to have one full-time employee and one part-time employee, at a minimum, to be able to participate in the plan.”
“We currently have 44 potential contracts represented by those who have completed the survey (see the survey link below),” she said. “We need at least 50 to move forward with putting together plans and pricing.”
“If your business is at all interested in this type of health insurance offering or at least seeing what plans and rates will be offered,
please complete the survey link below as soon as possible,” Madison said.
“If the employer already has employee info on a spreadsheet, they can submit that,” Madison said.
The survey was first sent out to Chamber members in May, she said.
“We would like people to send as soon as possible, by Sept. 30. Companies can still come on board beyond that date, but we need a cut-off date.”
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The Chamber is formulating this plan through member and local insurance representative Don Doherty of
Northwestern Mutual Life, RPS Benefits, Inc.
“Information on the attached (below) is what the employer will need to complete on the survey, so they could have their employees complete this form, or provide this information in an Excel format to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They would send the information directly to Donna Pashman of BCBS of KS, email Donna.Pashman@bcbsks.com,” Madison said.
“If businesses are already on BCBS and have interest in seeing what the Chamber plans and pricing will be, they can email Donna and simply reference the Fort Scott Chamber Plan, Business Name, and current BCBS member number,” she said.
The survey link is also currently on the Chamber website fortscott.com under the Events tab.