The Summit League knows firsthand just how important teamwork is for achieving goals. The NCAA Division I athletic conference supports 19 championship sporting events at 10 institutions, involving more than 3,000 student athletes.

At its heart, The Summit League is about helping each one of those students have an exceptional athletic experience coupled with a well-rounded academic education.

Behind the scenes working to reach these goals are nine employees, including office manager Pam Schut, who joined The Summit League’s team after its headquarters moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota in August of 2018.

With a new office location and employees added to the team, the transition also meant the Summit League needed a new health insurance plan.

“We needed a plan that fit the needs of the entire group and was comparable to what they had before,” she says. “But also as a recruiting tool, we needed a really good plan that would make people want to come and be a part of our team.”

Sanford Health Plan fit the bill for those needs – and more.

Since many of the Summit League’s employees spend time traveling to games across the Midwest, it was important for their health insurance plan to make it easy to receive care outside of Sioux Falls.

“We put together an idea of what we needed to have and what our budget was, and Sanford Health Plan blended those things together,” says Schut.

Her advice to other small businesses is to start by connecting with an agent.

“When you’re a small business, and in my case, an office manager, you’re not the master of everything,” she says. “You may know just a tiny bit about this, and then when an agent comes in to help you, they bring in all that expertise.”

Schut’s agent helped explain the finer details of each plan, complete paperwork and eliminate any confusion. Her agent helps her answer day-to-day questions too.

All health insurance options from Sanford Health Plan come with value-added services, which her team felt would help employees and their families stay healthy. This included a diabetes prevention course that one of Schut’s family members successfully completed.

“It was a year-long course on how to prevent diabetes through cooking, staying healthy and working through those things,” she says. “That class was awesome and well worth it.”

Schut describes health insurance as one big piece of the puzzle when it comes to putting together an impactful employment package. And for small businesses, it’s not impossible to find a plan that checks all the boxes.

“I think offering health insurance is probably one of the largest impactful benefits of our employment package." Schut says, "For The Summit League, Sanford Health Plan was our perfect fit.”

If you’re ready to learn more, view our health insurance guide for small businesses. You can also call us at (888) 535-4831 to talk to one of our experts or get a quote.