Aetna Introduces New Chicagoland Plan for Small Businesses.CHICAGO -- Aetna (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : AET AET Aetna, Inc. AET After Extra Time AET Actual Evapotranspiration AET Alliance for Environmental Technology AET Alpha-Ethyltryptamine AET Applied Extrusion Technologies, Inc. ) is introducing a health insurance plan with the goal of helping small businesses in under-served communities offer health insurance to their employees for the first time ever. Called the Aetna Illinois Community Plan(SM), it is designed for Chicago-area small businesses with 2 to 50 eligible employees and is approximately 25 percent less expensive than other Aetna small group insurance plans with similar benefits. Aetna's Illinois Community Plan is available through insurance brokers to members and member affiliates of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which is open to anyone. "We're very excited about this affiliation," said Omar Duque, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "We're hopeful this plan will allow businesses to offer their employees and their families health insurance who have never been able to afford it before." "This plan was designed in direct response to the needs raised by the local business community. They told us they needed a health plan that was affordable for the business and their employees, close to home, easy to understand and with robust benefits," said Marty Castro, vice president of external affairs for diverse market strategies at Aetna's Chicago office. "So, we designed this plan to make sure it includes hospitals and health care providers in the neighborhoods where people live. There are more than 40 hospitals, 2,400 primary care physicians, 740 Ob/Gyns, 5,600 specialists and 2,000 behavioral health Behavioral health was first used in the 1980's to name the combination of the fields mental health and substance abuse. As an example, an organization serving both mental health and substance abuse clients might refer to its practice as behavioral health or providers participating in this plan. Hospitals and physicians are located in Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane, Kankakee and Will counties." Aetna's Illinois Community Plan is a tiered plan, meaning there are three tiers of health care providers. If people use the health care providers in the first tier, known as the "Tier 1 community network," generally they have the least out-of-pocket expense. The plan focuses on prevention. When using the "community network," co-pays and deductibles are waived for well-baby exams, child exams, immunizations, adult physical exams, routine mammograms, eye exams and routine gynecological gynecological /gy·ne·co·log·i·cal/ (-kah-loj´i-k'l) gynecologic. exams. In addition, the plan covers use of "walk-in" clinics that belong to the network. "There are insurance plans in the marketplace that advertise they're 'low-cost,' but once you check into it, you find they have substantial out-of-pocket costs out-of-pocket costs Managed care Health care costs that a covered person must pay out of pocket–eg, coinsurance, deductibles, etc. See Copayment. and don't cover many things. Aetna's Illinois Community Plan is one with limited out-of-pocket expense that covers a full spectrum of health care services - doctor's visits; hospitalizations; lab and x-ray services; outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy; chiropractic chiropractic (kīrəprăk`tĭk) [Gr.,=doing by hand], medical practice based on the theory that all disease results from a disruption of the functions of the nerves. services; outpatient surgery Outpatient Surgery, also referred to as ambulatory surgery or same-day surgery, is surgery that does not require an overnight hospital stay. The term “outpatient” arises from the fact that surgery patients may go home do not need an overnight hospital ; emergency room and urgent care; and generic prescription drugs prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, ," said Aetna's Castro. In addition, those with Aetna insurance have access to a wide array of health information and wellness resources on the Aetna web site. The plan includes hospitals and physicians located in Chicagoland's Hispanic communities, where many speak Spanish. The Spanish-language website for the new plan (www.aetnaILCommunityPlan.com) will go live in late January and includes a DocFind link to search the physician database. In addition, Aetna offers a Spanish version of its website (www.aetna.com/espanol/) and partners with the Financial Planning Financial planning Evaluating the investing and financing options available to a firm. Planning includes attempting to make optimal decisions, projecting the consequences of these decisions for the firm in the form of a financial plan, and then comparing future performance against Association on a Spanish language Spanish language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The official language of Spain and 19 Latin American nations, Spanish is spoken as a first language by about 330 million persons informational website about health insurance (www.planifiqueparasusalud.com). A DocFind[R] site for the Illinois Community Plan is currently available in English: http://www.aetna.com/docfind/custom/ilcommunitynetwork/ "While direct medical costs account for 24 percent of employers' health care expenses, the cost of on-the-job productivity loss due to illness accounts for 63 percent," said Castro. "Employers need to look not just at the cost of health benefits when considering whether to offer health insurance, but at the bigger picture of how employee health conditions are affecting benefit results and productivity. These days, having health insurance is critical to a family's and a community's financial well-being and security." Aetna is well-known for its involvement in Chicago's Hispanic community. Over the last 3-1/2 years, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation have awarded more than $2 million to organizations in Chicago, most of which are providing health and wellness services in Chicago's under-served communities, including the Hispanic community. In addition, Aetna's Chicago employees volunteer thousands of hours in Chicago's communities and are committed to serving the health needs of our neighbors. About Aetna Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified diversified (di·verˑ·s health care benefits companies, serving approximately 37.2 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy pharmacy, art of compounding and dispensing drugs and medication. The term is also applied to an establishment used for such purposes. Until modern times medication was prepared and dispensed by the physician himself. In the 18th cent. , dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups employer group Association of employers Managed care An entity with a current group benefits agreement in effect with a health plan to provide covered health care services to its employee-subscribers and eligible dependents. , individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com. |
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