Association health plans provide a potential safe harbor for small to medium sized employers from the volatility of the direct market. These multi-employer welfare arrangements allow companies in a similar industry to pool their risk in order to form one large purchasing pool. By creating this large group purchasing pool, these employers can collectively leverage their size for the purposes of buying insurance. Access to these programs is often times limited to a select number of agencies and therefore is not always made available to companies in these industries. LaPorte is an endorsed agency for the following Associations and their health plans: