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Since Chamber Choice’s launch, 11 additional local chambers of commerce havejoined the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce to endorse Chamber Choice. AndChamber Choice has expanded its eligibility criteria to small businesses with up to 50employees. The actual enrollment in Chamber Choice is 80,000 members as of 2004.EligibilitySmall businesses with up to 50 employees located in Kansas City, which includesJackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandottte in Kansas areeligible for Chamber Choice. Rather than establishing a target enrollment for the program, BCBSof Kansas City set a target growth rate of 15% per year. The actual enrollment in ChamberChoice is 80,000 members as of 2004. Approximately 30% to 35% of businesses were notoffering health insurance prior to joining Chamber Choice (2001). Four out of ten employees wereuninsured prior to enrollment (2001). The retention rate is 82% to 86% per year. Staffing ofChamber Choice is the same as the staff for other BCBS of Kansas City products.Benefits and ServicesChamber Choice offers comprehensive services and a flexible benefit design.Employers choose among five different plan arrays that range from limited to comprehensivebenefits. Each array consists of a PPO, a traditional HMO and an open network HMO product.Employees then choose one of the three products within the array. The basic plan benefitsinclude: physician visits at $15 to $25 per visit; inpatient and outpatient hospital procedures;hospital stay at $100 to $500; a $5/$20/$40 to $10/$30/$50 three-tiered prescription drug plan;life insurance; dental benefits; and accidental death and dismemberment benefits. ChamberChoice also provides rate stability for two years to enrollees.FinancingChamber Choice is financed by member cost-sharing and premiums identical toconventional commercial insurance products. Co-payments range from $15 to $500 dependingon the plan. Monthly premiums are group and member specific with average premiums of $125for healthier, lower-risk groups and $208 for extremely high-risk groups. The average premiumper member per month is $166.56. The average price of Chamber Choice is generally lowerthan other commercial products offered by competitors (except for those in the high-riskgroups). Approximately 87% to 88% of the total overall cost of the product is used for healthbenefits, 12% to 13% for administration, and 0.5% for profit. The profit margins for other BCBSof Kansas City products are four to six times greater than for Chamber Choice. (2001 numberscited)MarketingBCBS of Kansas City’s multifaceted marketing approach includes print, radio andtelevision ads as well as direct mail to very small employers. All materials illustrate the localChamber of Commerce’s endorsement. A broker community of around 1,000 brokers recruits96% of the members through direct contact with Chamber businesses. Marketing is integratedwith the Chamber of Commerce’s resources as well. Chamber Choice is marketed on theInternet through the BCBS of Kansas City and Chamber websites. Employers may obtaininformation by calling the Chamber’s or BCBS of Kansas City’s toll-free numbers.D-17