An agreement announced Tuesday opened a health insurance plan designed for Alaska nonprofit employees to some 500-member businesses of the Alaskan Chamber of Commerce — including many that do business in Kodiak.

The agreement expands a plan created more than a year ago by Anchorage-based nonprofit Foraker, an organization that supports other Alaskan nonprofits and tribal organizations. The plan is available to chamber businesses that agree to pay at least 75 percent of premiums.

There are now about 400 employees from some 30 nonprofits covered by the plan. Foraker decided to open up the plan to potentially gain enough members to lower premiums. For now, the plan’s rates are not noticeably different from other plans.

Foraker director of human resources Rebecca Savidis said on Wednesday that Foraker has been inundated with phone calls about the plan since the announcement.

In Kodiak, the plan mostly affects large employers — some which already offer some kind of insurance plan.

Susan Johnson, manager of the Best Western Kodiak Inn doubted her business would participate in the new insurance plan because her 40 employees already have access to insurance as members of an international chain.

“It doesn’t really affect us,” she said. “We’re already offering a basic insurance through Best Western.”

Kodiak’s list of state chamber members includes The Kodiak Inn Best Western, Wells Fargo, First National Bank, Key Bank, Ed Randolph Insurance, Spenard’s, Walmart and Safeway.

Even the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce has not signed up for the plan, although it qualifies as a nonprofit. The Kodiak chamber now has its own plan for its four employees.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said executive director Debra King. “I just think it needs to catch on.”

Nonprofit Senior Citizens of Kodiak Inc. was part of the Foraker health plan before the announcement. Eight of the nonprofit’s 20 employees are covered by Foraker’s group.

Executive director Pat Branson welcomed the entrance of for-profit employees in the plan. She said the plan has worked for the nonprofit employees, but it hasn’t saved money.

“The price has been comparable with the insurance we had before,” she said. “But it also hasn’t gone up. The more groups join, the lower and the more stable our premiums will be.”

As a member of the Kodiak Borough Assembly Branson recently advocated a group health insurance plan open to all Kodiak residents so they can take advantage of group rates. Both the Kodiak Island Borough and the City of Kodiak are researching options.

Branson also represents the Kodiak chamber in the state chamber of commerce.

In order to reduce premiums for the Foraker plan, the group needs to reach a “critical mass,” said Jeff Ranf, president of Wallace Insurance Group, the group’s consulting broker plan.

With enough members the plan could pull out of the community pool. With an independent pool, preventive medicine could potentially lower medical expenses and reduce premiums.

The Rasmussen Foundation subsidizes a health coaching program through 2011. The plan attempts to encourage healthier members through required online heath diagnostics and optional health coaching.

The public employees of Juneau are a model for the plan.

“The Juneau city and borough have been doing this for a number of years and to my knowledge, they have some of the lowest rates in the state,” Ranf said.

“This is an important day for our members,” Alaska State Chamber president Wayne Stevens said Tuesday in a statement. “All too often, especially for our smaller businesses, health insurance is something they want to offer but the cost puts it out of reach.

“Now they have this excellent program that will help cover their employees and put them on the road to better health at the same time.”

In Kodiak, the uninsured are not as numerous as in other parts of Alaska and the U.S. according to the 2008 Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center Community Health Assessment. In 2008, some 15.4 percent of Kodiakans did not have any kind of health insurance including Medicare, Medicaid and TriCare. The report lists 2006 studies with a 19-percent uninsured rate in Alaska and 18 percent in the nation.

Mirror Writer Sam Friedman can be reached via e-mail at sfriedman@kodiakdailymirror.com.