Allvoices.com Offers Health Care for Valued Journalists

SAN FRANCISCO, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Allvoices.com, the first open media site where anyone can report from anywhere, today announced that it will provide health care options for its most active U.S. contributors. The global news hub currently supports nearly 350,000 professional and citizen journalists worldwide and pays its contributors based on how their posts perform on the site. This includes quality of post, traffic and community it generates. Allvoices firmly believes that every contributor—professional or citizen—is a reporter and thus is committed to providing the benefits necessary to support their writers. In efforts to attract and retain the best talent, Allvoices goes beyond providing a publishing platform and offers rewards and incentives to ensure the highest quality of work.

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Health care for Allvoices' most active writers comes in response to the site's exponential growth at a time when the media industry has significantly shrunk, making it one of the only citizen journalism platforms that helps writers augment their living. Allvoices plans to roll out additional health options over the next year and see this as a way to extend their mission—providing reporters with the resources to create quality, vetted journalism.

"Allvoices began as a way to bring the best of world news into one place. In order to reach this goal, our writers need to be paid and know they have some protection in the event of a health crisis," said Aki Hashmi, Chief Marketing Officer of Allvoices. "We see providing health options as a step forward in the journalism industry. Open media sites are slowly emerging as sources of income for writers. This is one solution to the financial crisis facing the news industry; reporters, both citizen and professional, can now make money and have access to some health care resources."

As journalism continues to adapt to the Internet, Allvoices' efforts to provide health care is notable as it signals a shift in the news-media industry. Open media sites are responding to the needs of both citizen and professional journalists, beginning to provide writers with means required to create cogent, compelling work.

"At the root of our payment plan and now basic health care options is our commitment to journalistic excellence. Journalism is essential to a democratic society," said Hashmi. "We believe community based sites can and will play an integral role in preserving its status as 'the fourth estate'."

Allvoices' large user base gave Allvoices the leverage to secure significantly less expensive rates than typical health care plans.  In order for contributors to qualify, they must commit to generating at least 15 articles per month and must achieve a score of 80 within the incentive program. Details can be found here: www.allvoices.com/incentive

Health options include a limited medical plan that provides fixed benefits and covers expenses like doctor visits, prescription drugs, preventive care and diagnostics.

Participation includes:

• Access to one of the largest PPO networks in the country, provided by the Beech Street network of providers
• No co-pay or deductible. Contributors are covered beginning with the first Dr.'s visit
• Lower costs for prescriptions
• No network restrictions. The plan covers benefits regardless of the physician
• Nurse Hotline. 24/7 availability for health related questions

For more information please visit Flex Shield Enrollment. (www.allvoices.com/healthplan.)

About Allvoices, Inc.

Allvoices' mission is to create a global community for sharing news, videos, images and opinions from multiple points of view that invoke an emotional connection between individual perspectives from around the world. A community of diverse, engaged and globally minded citizens serves as news reporters, opinion leaders and publishers to share with the world the realities on-the-ground. Allvoices.com brings together context, insight and diversity of opinions around a broad range of topics and issues on the global, national and local levels. Allvoices is the largest global community offering unbiased and relevant news and perspectives in one place. With its proprietary algorithms, Allvoices utilizes professional and online news sources, blogs, images and videos to determine relevancy, foster credibility and maintain openness with each contribution made to the site. For more information, visit http://www.allvoices.com

SOURCE Allvoices, Inc.