Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce to offer benefits programs to members

Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce has joined
others in western and central Washington offering an
employee benefits program to members.

Bert Caldwell
Staff writer

Chamber President Eldonna Gossett said the
Washington Business Association and Chamber of
Commerce Trust program replaces one discontinued
three years ago.

"There hasn’t been a lot available," she said.

The trust is administered by Marsh Advantage
America, a service of Seabury & Smith. Underwriters
participating in the plan include Regence Northwest
Health, Regence Life and Health Insurance Co.,
Washington Dental Services, Vision Service Plan,
American International Group, and Caldwell Legal
USA.

Gossett said chamber members who are licensed
insurance agents, not the chamber itself, will sell the
program. Underwriters will determine eligibility and
premiums, she said.

The Valley chamber is the first in Eastern
Washington to offer the program. Gossett said she
hopes access to the trust will attract new members to
the chamber’s roster of about 700.

"We do not want to get into the insurance business,
but we do want to make this a benefit of
membership," she said.

Many businesses new to the area ask about the
availability of an insurance program, Gossett noted.

The Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce will
be meeting with trust representatives this week to
discuss the plan, and will likely enlist, said president
Rich Hadley.

He said changes in federal law killed the earlier
version of the program, but amendments that took
effect earlier this year made the benefit trusts
attractive again.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=060502&ID=s1158992&cat=section.business