PHOTO PROVIDED / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
HEALTH PLAN PRESENTATION … Crystal Meyer, director of the Northern Buckeye Health Plan (NBHP), recently told Archbold Rotarians how NBHP has helped public school districts and other governmental entities keep their insurance costs down since 1988. NBHP currently has nearly 40 member organizations representing some 9,700 public employees. It is a division of Optimal Health Initiatives, a consortium that covers 40,000 public employees in Ohio and Indiana. The program was arranged by Rotarian Tod Hug, who is also the chairperson of NBHP’s board of trustees.
For public employers trying to control health insurance costs, the staff of Northern Buckeye Health Plan is frequently the answer to a prayer.
Crystal Meyer, who directs the organization, told Archbold Rotarians what NBHP is able to offer its nearly 40 member organizations — a membership that grows to some 100 public employers since it is a division of Optimal Health Initiatives that manages health insurance plans for governmental entities throughout Ohio and Indiana.
Individual employer benefit managers save money on employee benefits, Meyer explained, by partnering with other public employers to achieve volume discounts and leveraged claim management tools.
“Historically, (NBHP) members have achieved better than market average “per employee” costs (by partnering with Optimal Health Initiatives),” she said.
Together, the divisions represent about 100 public employers and nearly 40,000 covered lives.
Meyer explained that NBHP is able to offer its members several local and national insurance networks to choose from and provides their employees with access to five local Marathon health clinics that are staffed by the same range of medical professionals that a family medical practice would have.
NBHP has Marathon health clinics in Archbold, Bryan, Defiance, Napoleon and Wauseon where people can receive quality, convenient medical services including primary care, laboratory services, many generic prescriptions and comprehensive wellness programs at no out-of-pocket cost.
Meyer concluded that Northern Buckeye Health Plan is able to offer public employer members competitive plan designs at below market premiums.
For more information about NBHP, visit its website: www.nbhpoptimalhealth.com.