As if they didn’t have enough to worry about—competitive world marketplace, government regulation, etc.—today’s telecommunications companies are now experiencing a new challenge: obtaining comprehensive health insurance for their employees at an affordable price.

 

The cost of health insurance in recent years has gone through the roof, the result of many factors including longer life-spans and high-tech treatment options. For small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the telecom industry, the result is that, often, the type of health insurance employees need or want simply is not affordable.

 

Rather than settle for being priced out of the health insurance market, though, some telecoms are taking matters into their own hands. In 1986, one such group of companies founded Ideacom, an industry buying group that today is a $200 million, national organization whose members enjoy a variety of benefits including access to comprehensive healthcare coverage at association health insurance rates.

 

Ideacom offers its members a choice of eight health insurance plans, each designed to meet the needs of SMBs by, for example, controlling annual rate increases over the long haul. Conventional plans often see rate increases of 10-30 percent; increases for most association plans, by contrast, are usually less than 5 percent.  Each plan is “fully-funded” which helps minimize risk for both individual members and the group.

 

The health insurance plans offered by Ideacom help telecoms keep their edge by offering competitive employee benefit packages to their workers.

 

Below is a basic rundown of how Ideacom Group Health Insurance Plans works.

 

Ideacom offers a variety of health insurance plans, all of which include coverage for major medical expenses, office visits, and maternity. The plans are handled by Gibson & Associates of Columbia, South Carolina, and administered by Fiserv. The primary provider network is PHCS—the largest, proprietary preferred provider organization (PPO) in the U.S. with almost 450,000 providers and more than 4,000 facilities.

 

Additionally, Ideacom has an agreement with Noel Taylor Agency of Columbia, South Carolina, to provide supplemental insurance (including life, disability, accident, hospital confinement indemnity, and cancer/critical illness).

 

By pooling their buying power, Ideacom members have created an organization capable of getting access to the type of group health insurance plans usually reserved for large corporations. All Ideacom members have access to this benefit, regardless of size. For example, human resources personnel at each member company benefit by having access to convenient, online administration tools and 24/7 phone support.

 

To learn more about Ideacom’s association health insurance plans, visit the company’s TMCnet.com channel, Association Health Insurance.