Members of the Warsaw Chamber of Commerce are being offered health insurance through the Missouri Chamber Federation as a new benefit. Dental and Vision coverage is also an option.
“We are super excited about this benefit,” said chamber board member Megan Cunningham. “We are working through Missouri Chamber Federation which will handle all the application process. Other area chambers who have the insurance say that it very affordable and is the number one benefit for their members. It is available to small businesses with two to 50 employees. Those members interested can contact Megan Petersen, Warsaw Chamber of Commerce Executive Administrator. Those businesses who are not current members may fill out an application for membership.”
Cunningham said that she is a nurse and business owner, and she is looking at the new plan for her family. She said that the plan is no cost to the chamber and is something members have been asking for.
The plan has only been available to the local chamber since the second week of September, and a check with several chamber members about their interest in the insurance resulted in positive responses.
Pitts Homes in Warsaw is looking into the insurance and is sending information to its corporate office. Another chamber member has called the chamber office to get more information.
Chamber President Tracey Amos added some information about the new insurance. She said that there are many different plans to choose from and the deductible can be as low as $0 or very high. The most popular plan has a $2,500 deductible, with responsibility only for copays after the deductible is met. Most copays are $15 or $30 for an office visit. She said that the insurance allows employees in the same business to be related such as a wife and husband. The considerable number of plans available in the region including Benton County can be viewed at https://mochamber.com.
The above site reports that employer-sponsored health insurance climbed an average of seven percent in 2023, but that the health insurance from Missouri Federation is helping small-and mid-sized employers combat rising costs. In a 2022 poll 80 percent of plan participants said the Chamber Benefit Plan reduced their company’s health insurance costs by at least 10 percent. The health insurance offered by the Chamber Benefit Plan was first rolled out to a limited number of small businesses in 2017. Since then, it has grown to nearly 4,000 groups and 45,000 covered lives.
