Prime Advantage buying group tackles rising cost of healthcare coverage for small to mid-size manufacturers

Despite attempts of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) to make healthcare affordable, costs are continuing to rise. For small to mid-size manufacturers, it’s becoming more difficult to provide good healthcare coverage. However, there is a solution that many manufacturing companies might find helpful. The Chicago-based manufacturers’ buying group known as Prime Advantage, which has helped thousands of industrial manufacturers throughout North America to lower costs and improve profitability through its strategic sourcing network, is now helping members to tackle one of their biggest concerns—rising healthcare costs.

Prime Advantage was founded in 1997 and is dedicated to bringing its clients reduced costs on raw materials, components and supplies by leveraging sourcing agreements and strategic services. By combining the purchasing power of more than 750 industrial manufacturers, Prime Advantage negotiates volume rebates and discounts with an exclusive global group of endorsed suppliers.

Prime Advantage has announced a partnership with health industry consultants Lindsay, Payne, Gibson and Marette (LPGM) to offer a proven solution for broadening insurance coverage and funding preventive healthcare plans, known as the Healthcare Cost Containment System. The company’s 2016 Group CFO Survey revealed that rising healthcare costs have become the top concern for small and mid-sized industrial manufacturers.

The Healthcare Cost Containment System bundles several strategic insurance products and solutions that work together to help companies offer extensive insurance coverage and fund preventive healthcare plans without any out-of-pocket costs. The system is built on an alliance between United Healthcare, US Preventive Medicine & The Cleveland Clinic, Aflac and Optum, all leaders in their respective segments. It’s a comprehensive approach that enables companies to offer extensive health insurance to employees, as well as an industry-leading wellness program, to improve the overall health of employees, at no added cost to the company.

One of the program’s designers is Mark Lindsay, former Assistant to President Bill Clinton for the Office of Management and Administration. Lindsay explains, “The system is like a three-legged stool. Each of the alliance partners is a leg of the stool. When fully implemented, the Healthcare Cost Containment System creates a self-funding approach to allow corporations to gain access to a world-class preventive health program with no net out-of-pocket costs.”