Anthem, Va. Chamber partner on WiseChoice Healthcare Alliance

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield on the WiseChoice Healthcare Alliance, the next step in providing health insurance to small business owners through a newly legalized consortium structure, President and CEO Barry DuVal announced Wednesday.

In June 2022, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed legislation allowing associations — including chambers — to form consortiums and sell health care plans that cover small businesses with two to 50 employees. The consortiums are known as Multiple Employer Welfare Associations, or MEWAs, and their aim is to lower the per-person cost of insurance by creating a larger risk pool. The state Chamber was one of the primary proponents of the consortiums, which will be overseen by the State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance. According to the Chamber, the bureau took several months to approve WiseChoice’s application, which was submitted last summer.

According to Wednesday’s announcement, employers can qualify for membership to WiseChoice through membership with a participating local chamber of commerce, the Virginia Farm Bureau or any trade association with the program. Qualified employers must have their corporate headquarters in Anthem’s Virginia service area, which includes the whole state except for Fairfax city, Vienna and the area east of Route 123.

Youngkin spoke Wednesday at the Virginia Chamber’s annual meeting held at the Omni Richmond Hotel. “I want you to know, I am totally psyched. I can’t wait until we have our first group of Virginians who work for small businesses who now access health insurance through WiseChoice. This is going to be great.”

In a statement, Anthem Virginia President Monica Schmude said, “Strategic partnerships, like ours with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, demonstrate our common goal to redefine health, reimagine the health system, and strengthen our communities. I am excited to see the hard work of so many result in a solution that makes sense for the small business community across the commonwealth addressing affordability and providing long-term stable access to care for Virginians.”

Youngkin also discussed his goal to revamp the state’s tax code, including reducing personal income tax and increasing sales and use taxes, and making sure that the state’s economic development wins continue. “We’ve had a tremendous economic development run. We’ve had $71 billion of new capital committed by companies who are either here and expanding or moving here over the course of the last few years.”

Speaking about the proposed $2 billion Alexandria arena and surrounding entertainment district, the governor also said that the opportunity to bring the Washington Capitals NHL team and the Washington Wizards NBA team to Virginia from Washington, D.C., “is most unique. … There’s never been a structure put together like this, with no upfront payment from the Commonwealth of Virginia and not [creating] new taxes. We created a sports entertainment authority that would really participate in the success of the district. It provides not only substantial capital to build the facility, but it also provides excess cash flow to the Commonwealth of Virginia in order to address other needs. That is a pretty unique arrangement, and one that I believe that is not only going to benefit Northern Virginia but can benefit all of Virginia.”

As of Wednesday, a bill with full financial details on the arena and the creation of the authority, which would own the land and structures, had not yet shown up on the Legislative Information System. According to a recent Washington Post story, House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian said the governor asked him to consider carrying the House version of the bill, but he had not yet seen it last Friday.