Washington Business Spring 2019 | Washington Business | Page 47

business backgrounder | health
Helping Members Provide High-Quality Health Care
to Employees and their Families
Even the smallest businesses can provide the highest quality health
insurance through AWB’s HealthChoice. AWB’s health insurance
plan helps cover the uninsured. Forty-percent of the employers
participating in HealthChoice didn’t offer coverage previously.
Brian Mittge and Brian Temple
Thanks to AWB’s HealthChoice program, 2,600 Washington employers and
27,000 people have access to high-quality, affordable health care coverage.
At A Glance
Small employers can provide the highest
quality health insurance at a competitive rate.
HealthChoice is underwritten by Premera
Blue Cross.
Benefit plans are comprehensive and provide
access to some of the broadest provider
networks in the state. AWB members with
two or more employees in the following
industries are eligible to participate:
manufacturing, retail/wholesale, technology,
agriculture, construction, communications,
professional services, transportation and
hospitality.
Kyle and Rachel Paysee of Sure Shot Trucking found quality health insurance in AWB’s
HealthChoice.
A Sure Shot Truck is not your typical dump truck. The company’s stone-slinger
services give workers the ability to precisely shoot gravel, bark, topsoil and other
products exactly where the customer wants them.
Despite its unconventional and innovative service, when its founders, Kyle and
Rachel Paysee, took the big step of hiring their first employees, they knew that they
wanted to provide a very conventional and crucial benefit for top-tier employers:
health insurance.
“It attracts people,” said Rachel Paysee. “They want to come work for a company
where they know they’re valued and taken care of.”
So they went looking for affordable, quality coverage. They found it with AWB’s
HealthChoice insurance plan.
HealthChoice offers nine PPO plans plus
three Health Savings Account (HSA) options
ranging in deductibles from $500 to $6,000.
HealthChoice helps small employers recruit
and retain employees by offering a robust
health insurance package.
Additional coverage is available: dental,
vision, life, disability and accident.
A full 40 percent of people covered under
HealthChoice were previously uninsured.
The average size of the businesses
participating in HealthChoice is 7.5
employees.
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