Health

Bryan Administration Taps Elan Insurance to Provide Affordable Healthcare Plans for Working Virgin Islanders Through 'Associations Health Plan'

Governor Albert Bryan has embarked on a mission to provide Virgin Islanders access to affordable health coverage through a strategy that provides choice and competition in the USVI, Government House said Monday. The idea is to strengthen the negotiating power with providers from larger risk pools through the Associations Health Plan, a federal program. The U.S. Department of Labor in 2018 expanded access to affordable health coverage options for small businesses and their employees through Associations Health Plans. It allows small employers to band together, based on common geography or industry, to purchase the types of coverage that are available to large employers, which can be less expensive and better tailored to the needs of their employees. It also allows working owners without other employees to join the association.  “When you consider our demographics – 106,000 individuals living in the Virgin Islands with a median income of $25,000, 32.5 percent living in poverty, and 28....