More than 100,000 U.S. employees will enroll in a new health insurance exchange from human resources consultants Aon Hewitt, the company announced on Sept. 27. The employees can use the exchange to purchase health benefits through this multi-insurer, multi-employer exchange starting this fall. This rate of enrollment might be a record for a health insurance exchange, either public or private. Could the state exchanges being developed under the Affordable Care Act learn a lesson from Aon’s experience with a private exchange? I covered this topic in a Managed Care magazine cover story this summer.
“There are examples in every industry, including iTunes, Amazon.com and Orbitz, where the introduction of competition on a retail, consumer level has driven down prices and made the industry more efficient,” said Ken Sperling, Aon Hewitt’s national health exchange strategy leader. “The Aon Hewitt Corporate Exchange is a viable alternative for companies searching for solutions that can reduce cost, transfer risk to insurers, empower employees to make smarter health care choices and create a more sustainable health care benefit program.”