News Releases

Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota Sees Small Business Health Plan Sales Surge

Contact:
Angela Feig
515.245.4551
feigab@wellmark.com

(Sioux Falls, South Dakota) – Many small-business owners, who face health insurance premiums rising at rates far in excess of overall inflation, find it harder and harder to offer coverage to their employees.  

To help South Dakota small businesses access quality, affordable health insurance for their employees, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota launched the new “Real Solutions for Small Businesses” product portfolio designed exclusively for groups with 2-100 employees.  These products became available in October 2006.

“We asked our small-business customers what product features were most important to them, we listened, and we’re now delivering this innovative health plan portfolio,” says Matt Shaffer, senior vice president, Sales, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield.   “Competitive benefits are important for small businesses to help them attract and compete for employees with larger companies.  Small businesses want to offer quality coverage, but they need to balance benefits with costs.”

“The response to the new Real Solutions plans has been tremendous,” Shaffer adds.  “We have enrolled more than 3,600 South Dakota small-business employees since October 2006, and we believe that the affordable rates of these new plans are even making it possible for some previously uninsured small employers to begin offering coverage to their employees.” 

At one small business, Heartland Pella Inc. in Rapid City, S.D., owner Larry Long selected a Wellmark Blue Priority HSA plan with a $2,500 deductible for the company’s 82 employees.  “It was pretty much a philosophical decision to put our employees more in charge of their own health care,” Long says.  “We pay 100 percent of our employees’ premiums, but not dependants’ coverage.  And we contribute $600 a year per employee to their HSA.”

Heartland Pella Inc. supplies Pella Corp. windows and doors in the four states of South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming.  “Because we have employees in more than one state, another advantage of Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota is that we are able to cover all our employees under one plan through the BlueCard program,” says Long.

The Real Solutions portfolio offers three product designs, including Blue Select Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) Copayment, Premium Saver and consumer-directed Blue Priority HSA plans.  To offer premium and coverage flexibility for small businesses, these plans offer a broad range of choice in deductible, copayment, coinsurance and out-of-pocket amounts. 

All plans include coverage for preventive care, prescription drugs and contraceptives, well-child care to age 7, and access to Wellmark’s comprehensive provider networks. The plans also include a number of value-added programs and services to help small businesses and their employees manage their health and health care benefits, including:  Decisions Count health literacy program materials; health management programs for preventive and pregnancy care, and case and disease management; BlueConnection Tools for employers; and myhealth@wellmark health information, tools and resources for employees. 

“What small-business owners want and what Wellmark gave them is rate relief, benefit and management designed to control costs, and a variety of health plan options for their unique needs,” Shaffer adds.  “We did this by streamlining and merging our 2-50 and 51-100 benefit portfolios into a single 2-100 small business segment, and making benefit changes to reduce some administrative inefficiencies to achieve immediate rate relief and help offset future costs trends and rate increases.  Factoring in our now even lower corporate operating margin target of 0 to 1 percent, we’ve been able to deliver very competitive rates to small business customers,” Shaffer says.

Wellmark, Inc. (www.wellmark.com) does business as Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa.  Wellmark and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, including Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota, insure or pay health benefit claims for more than two million members in South Dakota and Iowa.  Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota and Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Copyright© 2008 Wellmark, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield is an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross®, Blue Shield®, and the Cross® and Shield® symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an Association of Independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.