INSIDECOSTCO
IF YOU’RE A business owner who would
like to offer health insurance to your
employees, but you think it might be too
costly, think again. The Costco Health
Insurance Marketplace—brokered and
administered by Custom Benefit
Consultants (CBC) and their team of
healthcare ambassadors—may be just
what the doctor ordered.
The Costco Health Insurance Marketplace offers plans, programs and technology solutions for businesses of all
sizes, from two to 10,000-plus. Here is
some information to help you decide if
it’s right for you.
Benefits for small businesses
Small businesses owned by Costco
members can find some of the health
insurance resources used by large employers. The platform enables business deci-sion-makers to:
• Choose from medical, dental, vision
and voluntary options and more.
• Shop and compare plans.
• Review provider access, formularies
and plan benefit details.
• Model contribution strategies to
find what program works best for their
situation.
“The process of shopping, choosing
and enrolling in a comprehensive em-
ployee benefit plan is simple at the Costco
Health Insurance Marketplace,” says Lisa
Castaneda, Costco manager of insurance
services. “In addition, specially trained
health care ambassadors are available to
assist with each step of the process,
including quotes and proposals, enroll-
ment, and communications and approval.
Health care ambassadors are available
year-round to assist with issues related to
enrollment, provider access and other ser-
vice-related issues.”
The health care ambassadors make
you feel as if you have a friend in the insur-
ance business.
“When a business owner purchases
health insurance through the Costco
Health Insurance Marketplace, they can
expect to get the level of service they are
accustomed to with Costco,” says health
care ambassador Ben Hanson. “I am with
my clients every step of the way, from help-
ing them understand the new laws and
rules regarding small-business health
insurance to helping them pick the right
plan for their employees and assisting
them with the application process.”
“I make sure all my companies have
CONNECTING
Learn more about the Costco Health
Insurance Marketplace for businesses by
contacting a health care ambassador
directly at 1-800-611-9056, or go to
costcoquote.com.
Perk up your employees
The Costco Health Insurance
Marketplace offers plans and more
my direct phone number—
[there’s] no phone tree system
when you are dealing with me,”
says ambassador Lisa Park. “I
will get back to you within 24
hours. If you have an issue,
even when I am on vacation, I
will still be there working on
this for you until I get it
resolved. My goal is to make
you feel that you are No. 1 and
that you are getting the service
that you deserve.”
Benefits for big businesses
Many large firms seeking
to trim their benefits budgets
have turned to self-funded
arrangements. Cost reductions in self-funded arrangements are achieved through
the elimination of certain
taxes and fees, and insurance
carrier overhead and margins.
The Costco Health Insurance Marketplace has sought strategic partnerships
with best-of-class vendors that are committed to long-term cost containment.
Negotiated arrangements for access to the
best available discounts for preferred provider organization network access, pharmacy costs and benefits administration
help drive savings.
Prescription drug costs make up an
ever-growing portion of the overall cost of
health care and employee benefits plans.
The Costco Health Insurance Marketplace
uses the Costco Health Solutions Prescription Benefits Program to help deliver
plan savings to self-funded clients. This
program guarantees that 100 percent of all
discounts from manufacturers will be
passed back to the employer. Companies
that participate in Costco’s prescription
benefit program typically reduce costs by
10 to 25 percent just by moving to the
Costco program.
“As a small-business owner I feel like
we’ve finally grown up! Helping to provide
medical insurance for our employees has
been a personal goal of mine for years,”
says Costco member Diana Moore, who
operates Remflex Inc., which manufactures exhaust gaskets in Washington state.
“I have always felt that it is the right thing
to do if you are able. Thank you for helping
me achieve this goal.” C
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