Costco Connection - August 2010

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ARTVILLE

Costco expands its health insurance programs

THE RISING COSTS of insurance are ongoing concerns for business owners, individuals and families. After carefully researching the many markets in which Costco operates, the company has identified quality insurance companies and products that can save members money while helping to meet their many insurance needs.

recently expanded that program to all Costco members in Pennsylvania and Georgia through a new arrangement with Aetna.

“We bring our members negotiated, exclusive values and pricing on services they need and use,” explains Lisa. “We believe these programs, and others like them, dramatically increase the value of a Costco membership, and we’re continually evaluating new expansion markets for our health insurance offerings.”—Will Fifield

Business health insurance

“Costco members continually cited the high cost of health insurance as a financial concern,” explains Lisa Castaneda, who works in Costco’s Services group. As a result, she says, Costco began offering business health insurance to Washington state Executive members in 1997.

The program is now offered in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. All health insurance products offer catastrophic coverage as well as preventive care and prescription-drug coverage. In addition to health insurance, Costco offers coverage for dental and life.

Members typically report saving between 5 and 10 percent on premiums compared with their previous insurance plans.

Individual health insurance

Individual and family health insurance is a growing segment of the health insurance market. In 2005 Costco began offering individual health insurance to Executive members in California. The program took off. Costco

Connecting

To learn more about Costco’s Business Health Insurance program, visit Costco.com and enter “business health” as the search term; or click on “Services,” then select “Business Health & Dental Insurance”; or call 1-800-611-9056.

To learn about Costco’s Personal Health Insurance program, visit www.costco personalhealth.com, or call 1-888-242-0989.

Costco also offers other insurance products, such as auto and home insurance, Mexico travel auto insurance, an individual dental plan and a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. For more information on these programs, visit Costco.com and click on “Services,” then select the program that interests you.