Chamber In the Media

The Chamber Corner is a weekly column designed to keep the business community informed about relevant issues and information from the Chamber of Commerce and is available through the following links:

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Important Notice Regarding Health Insurance Benefits

Nov 13

Written by: Todd Tranum
11/13/2009 10:37 AM  RssIcon

We are excited to announce a new offering of high quality and competitively priced health insurance benefits that are available to you right now. We have listened to you throughout the past several years, we have surveyed your needs and we have researched a variety of options. To meet your health insurance needs we have created a partnership with Liazon Benefits and Univera to present to you the Bright Choices™ program.

The availability and affordability of health insurance benefits are among the most important issues you confront in your businesses today. 

The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with Liazon, a national benefits trendsetter, to bring you the real benefits innovation you demand. Liazon is partnering with Chambers throughout Western New York with a focus on meeting the needs of Chamber members. Liazon has been profiled in CNNMoney.com – as one of six innovative national companies in healthcare / benefits. Liazon’s Bright Choices™ program lowers your cost, increases your benefits choices, and makes it easy for you to buy the benefits you need.

Lower Benefits Costs. If you’re offering health insurance benefits today, switching to the Bright Choices program will help you control your benefits costs and define how much you will contribute to benefits. If you’re not currently offering health insurance benefits, this is your opportunity to start, or restart, your benefits program. It is a consumer-centric solution that allows you and your employees to buy the right insurance at the right price.

A Marketplace of Benefits Choices. The Bright Choices program provides you with a wide variety of plan options. As part of this program, all Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce members will be able to access:

  • Multiple health plans, ranging from traditional co-pay plans to consumer-driven options
  • A Health Savings Account (HSA) for those who choose an HSA-qualified health plan 
  • Dental options
  • Vision coverage 
  • Personalized guidance from a team of professionals, through Liazon’s award-winning Bright ChoicesTM online technology, over the phone, and in-person

This is a level of benefit choice and breadth of options that no company would be able to access on its own, either by calling the insurance companies directly, or through a traditional insurance broker.
 
What Do I Have to Do? 
We encourage you to follow these steps to ensure that you have the right health insurance and other benefits:

  1. Explore the new plans and learn about your options click here! You can access a good overview of the Bright Choices program and the available benefits. Or call the Chamber at 716-484-1101.
     
  2. Enrollment Deadlines. We encourage you to enroll in the benefit plan as soon as possible. We will continue with a rolling open enrollment until June 1, 2010. Make sure all paperwork is turned in by the 10th day of the month to be effective the 1st of the month following.
  3. Get signed up:

    Employers:
    Employers must fill out a group enrollment form, and mail or fax it in along with some basic company information.

    Employees:
    Once your company is signed up, your employees can use the Bright Choices portal to learn about and enroll in the insurance benefits. For those who prefer to use paper forms that option is still available as a personal enrollment form.
     
    Plan Selection:
    To learn about the new plans available check out the Benefits at a Glance.

It has been a long journey to identify a way to offer you more plan options at a competitive price. We have found a product that meets your needs. Some other beneficial features of this program include: monthly premium billing instead of quarterly billing to help you address your cash flow needs, an interactive on-line portal to help your employees choose plans that best meet their needs to alleviate administrative demands on your company and information to encourage health, wellness and prevention to help contain costs. More information will be sent to you and your employees in the coming days regarding this new insurance program.

You can continue to count on the high-level of personal support and services that you have always received from the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce. Please feel free to contact Erin Andersen, Health Insurance Coordinator at 716-484-1101 with any additional questions you may have. We look forward to your taking advantage of this innovative new benefits program.

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