Content area
Full text
Denise Christy, former market president of Humana, has formed a company that will market a multicarrier private health insurance exchange in Michigan, targeting companies with 50-250 employees that want to continue to offer employer-based health insurance benefits but through defined contributions.
Royal Oak-based iSelect Custom Benefits Store has signed contracts with Health Alliance Plan and Priority Health to offer up to 10 custom health products each on the private exchange.
"ISelect gives employers access - through their independent insurance agents - to multiple carriers and a menu of benefit options not available previously in the small and midsized employer market," Christy said.
Since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was approved in 2010, many companies have announced private health insurance exchanges as an alternative to the state-based health insurance exchanges contained in the act and as an effort to reduce costs while maintaining benefits.
For example, Michigan companies that have announced private insurance exchanges are Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan with its GlidePath joint venture with Bloom Health and Mercer with its MercerMarketplace.
Roy Lamphier, vice president of insurance and affinity services with the Detroit Regional Chamber, said smaller employers are becoming more interested in defined contribution plans because insurance costs are rising beyond their funding means. The chamber is developing additional resources to help small employers cope with rising health insurance costs, he said.
"There are a lot of exchanges under development, and there are many different types," Lamphier said. "We will find out if employers are interested in the exchanges where they have a menu of choices."
Christy said she thinks iSelect's main competitor will be the...