Melissa Vance, the chamber's president and CEO, said health insurance has always been an issue.
“As soon as I stepped foot in the door at the chamber six years ago, I was starting to get to know the business owners, and one of the things that just kept coming up was the cost of health care, the cost of health care, the cost of health care," she said. "And also small businesses being able to retain their employees versus the employees going to a larger employer where they have healthcare benefits."
At the time, however, federal law prohibited chamber involvement, so Vance's hands were tied. Now, however, another Indiana chamber facilitated the local chamber's connection with United Healthcare.