Private health insurance exchanges gain traction with employers

Employers, others ditch old benefits model

For decades, the way employers offered health insurance coverage to their employees and retirees changed little. Now more and more companies are moving to a new health benefits delivery model using private health insurance exchanges.


Under the old model, employers, often with the assistance of consultants, brokers and agents, decided the insurers from which they would purchase coverage, the number and types of health plans they would offer employees, and how much they would contribute toward the cost of the coverage.
In addition, employers were deeply involved in plan administration, arranging and holding open enrollments for employees to choose one of the plans offered.


By contrast, with private insurance exchanges, employees and retirees select from a variety of health care plans and designs, with the employer's role largely limited to deciding how much of the premium it will pay.


While the move to private exchanges is not entirely new, there has been an accelerated shift in the past year, said Michael Thompson, a principal with PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. in New York.
In the past few weeks, big and well-known industry-leading employers, including IBM Corp. and Walgreen Co., have disclosed that, starting next year, their employees or retirees will choose health care plans offered by insurers participating in private exchanges.


Rethink your companies choices and look to the Private Exchanges.