A health insurance plan and a program to benefit high school students were among the items mentioned by Montana Chamber of Commerce president/CEO Webb Brown during a visit to Sidney Tuesday.

Brown said the Montana High School Business Challenge is offered to all Montana students. Area schools involved with the program include Sidney, Lambert, Culbertson and Bainville.

A goal of the program is for students to learn “real life” business skills in sales, marketing, manufacturing, cash flow, debt management and advertising.

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“We try to instill business principles with the high school students,” Brown said. “We think it’s so important to get the kids engaged in those principles.”

Brown announced that the Montana Chamber Choices health insurance program has 16,000 lives covered. There were 290 companies that signed up this year.

“We’re doing something right to give some hope and choice to people out there,” Brown said.

He added the program tries to cover the uninsured and it offers stability of rates. There are 11 different plans available, including high deductible plans, to meet people’s needs.

In addition, there are other areas of concern for the organization.

The Montana Chamber continues keeping an eye on workers compensation legislation. Brown noted Montana is the second highest in the nation for the cost of workers compensation premiums.

The state also ranks high for workers’ safety. “That’s us, that’s not government.” He said the state had 39 fatalities that were work related last year. The average is 40-50. “Our goal is to have absolutely no fatalities on the job, and hopefully no accidents,” Brown said.

Another issue is to improve international relationships since Montana is the state with the longest border with Canada. “We can’t eat all the beet and wheat we have here,” Brown said. The Montana Chamber is also planning a trip to China during March.

editor@sidneyherald.com