dental insurance

Helping clients with strategies, not just quotes

By Chris Noffke, GBDS, CSFS, Vice President of Employee Benefits

Chris Noffke

Managing the costs of employee benefits while still providing robust resources for your employees can be a challenge. If your insurance agent just gives you a few quotes to compare, you might not be getting the best plans for your team.

Recently, my team and I met with a health care clinic that offers benefits for employees and has been struggling with rising premiums. Their agent had been showing them health insurance quotes, but not looking at strategies to reduce costs. We were able to find an option for them that saved almost $20,000 without reducing benefits for their employees. By using unique funding options, we were able to reduce overall premium costs without increasing costs for employees.

As the Wisconsin Medical Society’s insurance agency, WisMed Assure is a niche insurer specializing in insurance for health care professionals. Our team understands cybersecurity needs for health businesses, medical professional liability coverage and exactly how a disability insurance policy needs to be written for a physician. And we have unique contracts available only to our clients.

To illustrate the power of the niche programs we have built for WisMed clients and members, we recently worked with a small healthcare practice that received a group disability quote from another agent with a 4% reduction in renewal pricing. That may have looked good on the surface, but with the same top insurance carrier, due to WisMed Assure’s volume and relationship, we were able to offer a 5% decrease with a 3-year rate lock. The savings to this client in working with WisMed Assure was substantial.

When you work with us, you’re not alone in the insurance process. We’re hands on and help you with:

  • Open enrollment materials
  • Benefits booklets
  • Claims and payment issues
  • Help you use your money more wisely

Don’t deal with the average agent, talk to a professional dedicated to physicians. Please email me at chris.noffke@wismedassure.org or call 608.442.3734.

Note: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as insurance advice related to your specific policy or situation. Please consult with a qualified insurance advisor or professional before making any policy decisions. Full disclaimer and contact information.

Innovation and improvements 

By Chris Noffke, GBDS, CSFS, Vice President of Employee Benefits

Chris Noffke

June marked my eighteenth year in the insurance industry; my entire career has been focused on employee benefits and helping clients save money and improve employee confidence in benefits. When I was asked to join the WisMed Assure team, I was given the chance to be innovative and truly build something the way I felt it should be and that’s exactly what my team and I are doing!

When I was hired in 2016, I was asked to help strengthen our employee benefits programs and services. At that time, we did not offer many services, nor did we provide a lot of in-depth consulting regarding health insurance. Now we have launched a new pooled Dental insurance plan with Delta Dental of Wisconsin, a pooled disability plan, an association health plan with WPS and The Alliance and added a dozen new services and assessments. We continue to add services and programs to provide the best coverage for our clients.

I am very excited to announce our next innovation. WisMed Assure will be adding a second Association Health Plan eligible for all health care companies in the Madison/Dane County area. Our new Association Health Plan will offer Group Health Cooperative (GHC) of South-Central Wisconsin as the insurance carrier, providing access to GHC clinics and all the UW Health clinics in Dane County plus UW hospital. This benefit offering will be available starting on September 1, 2023. We are proud to have an additional plan option that will better serve our clients in Dane County and surrounding areas.

This option provides HMO rates to our members and those of the health care community. If you’ve ever thought, “We’re a low utilizing group, we don’t really use our health care,” this is a great opportunity to explore. These plans are medically underwritten and can provide a glimpse into your company’s utilization.

If you would like to see how our rates look, please email me at chris.noffke@wismedassure.org or call 608.442.3734. Wishing you the best of your remaining summer!

Note: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as insurance advice related to your specific policy or situation. Please consult with a qualified insurance advisor or professional before making any policy decisions. Full disclaimer and contact information.