Health Alliance expands with small-business group plans

Feb. 25--WENATCHEE -- One of the area's top Medicare insurers has expanded its services to offer health coverage plans for small businesses in Chelan and Douglas counties.

Wenatchee-based Health Alliance Northwest, which for five years has offered supplemental Medicare plans to area residents, is now providing workers' health insurance for small local businesses with 50 or fewer employees.

Linked to Confluence Health, Health Alliance is "a local company with access to local health care providers," said vice president David Corrigan. "Unlike many of the big national companies, we have offices right here in town. If clients have a problem, we can help solve it face to face."

So far, said Corrigan, Health Alliance's employer group plans are aimed at small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. However, plans for larger companies (51 to 200 employees) are under consideration.

With 16 employees in the state, Health Alliance Northwest is a branch of Health Alliance Insurance of Illinois, which has offered that state's residents individual, group and Medicare plans for more than 30 years. The Wenatchee-based service is owned equally by Confluence Health and the Illinois company.

So why should an employer consider Health Alliance for its group plan? "We have deep knowledge of the local payer-provider dynamic for the is area," said Corrigan. "We know many of the folks who live here, the jobs they do, the activities they engage in. And we know and have access to the health care providers at Confluence."

He added, "It's a perfect collaboration. We're a local alternative (to bigger insurance companies) that can offer better service at a better price and at the same time support our community's families, businesses and health care system."

Reach Mike Irwin at 509-665-1179 or irwin@wenatcheeworld.com. Read his blog Everyday Business. follow him on Twitter at @MikeIrwinWW.

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