Published October 2005

PacifiCare partners
with small-business group

SCBJ Staff

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. recently partnered with the Pacific Employers Alliance Trust to provide health insurance and other employee benefits to small businesses that have five to 50 employees in Washington state.

“PacifiCare’s partnership with the Pacific Employers Alliance Trust demonstrates our commitment to small businesses in Washington and our determination to enable employers of any size to access quality, affordable health-care coverage from PacifiCare,’’ said David Hansen, general manager of PacifiCare’s Northwest markets.

By consolidating many small businesses into one large group, Pacific Employers Alliance Trust, or PEAT, is able to offer small businesses more affordable and flexible health plan designs, said PacifiCare, a consumer health organization with nearly 3.2 million health plan members and approximately 11.3 million specialty plan members nationwide.

Under the new partnership, PEAT offers an array of PacifiCare products, including PacifiCare SignatureOptions PPO plans, PacifiCare SignatureFreedom self-directed health plans and indemnity plans, PacifiCare said. Comprehensive prescription drug benefits and life insurance coverage are included. Dental and vision plans also are available.

In addition, PEAT members also have access to value-added PacifiCare programs such as HealthCredits, a suite of services that provides consumers with tools designed to help them make better health-care decisions as well as a rewards system for those who take active steps to improve their health, PacifiCare said.

“The Pacific Employers Alliance Trust is designed to empower small businesses in Washington to better leverage their collective purchasing power and provide more affordable, flexible health-care coverage for their employees,’’ said PEAT founder and trustee Lynn Withrow.

“PEAT is member-governed, which will assist our employer members in proactively meeting their employees’ benefit needs year after year,’’ Withrow said.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, small businesses led Washington state’s economy in 2003, the most recent data available.

Of the approximately 207,000 employer firms in Washington in 2003, more than 98 percent, or nearly 203,000, were small businesses, according to the SBA Office of Advocacy.

In addition, small-business income increased by more than 6 percent, from $16.5 billion in 2002 to $17.5 billion in 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

More information on the employers’ trust is available by calling 800-829-2925.

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