The Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) announced on Tuesday, Aug. 25 that it is teaming up with insurance provider Premera to create a new healthcare plan specifically designed for the needs and desires of technology industry employees.

“We consider it our job to support the tech industry and are proud to be the first to provide an innovative healthcare offering in our state that’s robust enough to meet the actual needs of tech employees,” said Michael Schutzler, CEO of the WTIA. “The WTIA’s new healthcare offering is a game changer for local tech employers and will be a powerful tool for them to invest in their people and competitively recruit for highly sought after talent.”

The WTIA serves 8,500 technology companies and 250,000 tech professionals in the state – including many large national companies – although 95 percent of their company members have 100 employees or less.

Through the partnership, the WTIA will introduce their employer members to the new offerings with a focus on tech tools, time limitation, and attention through a phased approached over the next year or two. This new partnership will nearly double their medical plan offerings to 27 options.

While there are hundreds of potential health insurance plans to choose from, the WTIA found many healthcare needs and desires unmet during a survey of Washington tech employers.

“The healthcare industry is rapidly advancing right now and we recognize we can’t take a back seat when it comes to incorporating technology into our offerings,” said Jim Messina, EVP and Chief Marketing Executive at Premera.

Among the items on the tech industry’s healthcare “wish list” that the WTIA compiled were more common desires like an expansive provider care network and prescription coverage, but also the ability to consult with a doctor online, the integration of wearable technologies and access to pricing and service provider databases.

Overall, the partnership is aimed to make technology companies more competitive in the job market, as health insurance is one of the costliest but most important aspects of building a strong workforce.

“The central issue that workplaces face, and why we exist, is the lack of qualified workforce talent,” said Mike Monroe, the acting executive director of WTIA health insurance trust and COO of WTIA. Benefits packages rank high among the decision-making factors for job seekers. That is problematic for small companies when combined with growing healthcare costs.

“After salary and equity based compensation, health insurance is third biggest cost for employers,” said Monroe. “Last year many of our member companies dealt with 40 percent increases in healthcare costs, paired with a reduction in benefits.”

The exact cost of the WTIA’s new health plan offerings has not been determined at this time, but Monroe said the cost will either be a decrease from employers’ existing plans or normalize to a sustainable long term growth curve.

Despite the recent data breach at Premera, Monroe said the WTIA is confident that their clients’ information will be protected and that Premera is the best partner in this endeavor.

“Premera really understands this economy and where it’s going, and impact of technology to our community,” he said. “We actually did a walk-through to see how information would flow through our system and be encrypted and sent to Premera’s systems, and Premera was really leading the class in doing that compared to other care institutions.”

More information on the new partnership, including an introductory video, can be found at http://washingtontechnology.org/health-insurance/.