POMCO Group hiring for role as administrator in NY State of Health

SYRACUSE — POMCO Group today announced it is hiring about 40 employees following the firm’s selection as an administrator for a health plan that’ll be available through NY State of Health, New York’s health-insurance marketplace.

POMCO announced in April 2012 that Freelancers Union selected the firm as the administrator of the New York Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP), which is also known as Health Republic Insurance of New York, the firm said in a news release.

Freelancers Union, which has over 171,000 members nationwide, is sponsoring CO-OPs in New York, New Jersey and Oregon through nonprofit organizations in each state, POMCO said in an April 5, 2012 news release.

The Brooklyn–based Freelancers Union already offers members health-insurance coverage through its social-purpose Freelancers Insurance Company, for rates that are about one-third less than other insurers, according to POMCO.

As part of its agreement, POMCO Group will handle all customer service, claims processing, and various other plan-management aspects for CO-OP members.

The level of service that is required for the CO-OP members will “initially be slightly different” than that for typical POMCO Group members, the company said.

The new representatives will need an “intimate” knowledge of the CO-OP plans, along with other aspects of the exchange as well, Sherry Fraser, director of claims and customer service at POMCO, said in today’s news release.

“While this has certainly been a learning process for us, the one thing that is not new to us is our ability to deliver excellent customer service to our members no matter what type of plan they have,” Fraser said.

In addition to hiring and training new employees, POMCO Group has also added 18,000 square feet to its corporate headquarters at 2425 James St. in Syracuse to accommodate the workers, the firm said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com