THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130288
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILSON LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
An organization representing 49 chambers of commerce in 39 eastern North Carolina counties was chosen Monday to develop a plan to provide health care for small businesses in the region.
The State Plan Purchasing Alliance Board, which oversees a health-care program for small businesses, unanimously selected the Chambers of Eastern North Carolina.
It was selected over the other contender, the Eastern North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses in a 43-county area in the eastern third of the state.
Board members said they voted for the Chambers of Eastern North Carolina because that group appeared to have more grassroots support than the Eastern Chamber and because the group seemed to have a better understanding of the alliance concept.
``We tackled one of the major depressed areas of our state when we approved the plan for western North Carolina,'' said former state Sen. John Winter of Raleigh, a member of the state alliance board. ``Now, we're going to the east.''
Under the alliance board time-table, health insurance could be available through the program late next summer.
The Chambers of Eastern North Carolina health insurance plan targets 30,334 small businesses in eastern North Carolina that employ 203,363 people, including 5,633 small businesses that employ 35,123 people in 14 northeastern counties.
The group's proposal calls for a budget of about $1.56 million over the next four years.
The chamber group was charged with developing a plan that would offer a health insurance package to businesses with fewer than 50 employees and sell the plan to those companies.
The group will rely primarily on local chambers of commerce and regional groups to help market the plan, said Chip Cherry of Greenville, chairman of the chambers' health-care committee.
Cherry said his group's next step will be to conduct a lottery among participating chambers for seats on the regional health-care alliance board.
``We feel that we are moving ahead at an acceptable speed,'' said Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, chairman of the state health alliance board and a major proponent of the health-care-alliance program. ``While others are talking about health-care reform, we are doing it for small businesses.''
Under the state's health-care-alliance plan, small businesses come together to form an alliance that makes health-insurance coverage available to the group at much lower rates than the businesses could obtain on their own. And insurance offered through the alliance would eliminate restrictions on health insurance problems that already exist.
To help small businesses and their employees throughout North Carolina, the General Assembly allocated $4.5 million last year to establish a statewide system of small business purchasing alliances.
Under the plan, potential alliance sponsors apply to the health alliance board for approval of their regional proposals and one-time, start-up funding of their programs. by CNB