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Lee’s Summit-based GEHA considers itself one of the Kansas City area’s best-kept secrets, but it also wants to change that status.

A new naming-rights deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, announced earlier this month for an undisclosed amount, could go a long way toward accomplishing that aim. Starting next season, fans nationwide will see one of the National Football League’s best teams regularly play at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. They may ask themselves, “What is GEHA?”

Founded in 1937 in Kansas City, GEHA (which stands for Government Employees Health Association) got its start helping U.S. Railway Mail Service clerks with their medical expenses. In 1959, it was one of the first insurance carriers eligible to provide coverage to federal employees through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Act.

Today, with 1,450 employees, it has grown into the area’s 26th-largest private-sector employer. It’s the second-largest health insurance provider for federal employees and the largest dental insurance provider.

“We’re a national health plan focused exclusively on active federal employees, retired federal employees and their families, and retired military and their families,” Rich Bierman, chief legal officer and interim CEO, told the Kansas City Business Journal.

“We feel our mission as an organization is to ensure those people who are keeping us safe are staying healthy and well. We do that by offering medical and dental plans through federal programs called the FEHB (Federal Employee Health Benefits) program and the FEDVIP (Federal Employee Dental and Vision Insurance Program). We’re one of the largest organizations participating in those programs.”