Bloom Health is giving insurance agents and brokers in Minnesota full access to its private health exchange platform, in yet another sign that such exchanges are increasingly being used employers and will further alter the world of health insurance.
Private health exchanges are expected to spike dramatically in the coming years, particularly as employers look to give workers more options and contain costs on health benefits.
Agents and brokers can now offer Bloom Health’s exchange to employers with more than 50 workers — just ahead of the employer mandate that takes effect in 2015 (assuming it isn’t delayed again) — with the goal of making it easier for employees to select plans that fit their needs in a “jargon-free environment.”
The private exchange will include plans from prominent Minnesota carriers and HMOs, among them Medica, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which are built on Bloom’s cloud-based platform.
“The value the Bloom Private Exchange Platform brings to agents and brokers directly aligns with the landscape of what their employer clients are looking for,” Bloom Health’s chairman and CEO Simeon Schindelman said.”Agents and brokers have discovered this is a great way to attract new customers and retain existing business.”
The platform is aimed at assisting agents and broker with offering employers more choice, fully integrated benefits administration for any size employer, online and phone resources for the consumer and personalized support to decrease the burden on HR.
Minneapolis-based Bloom Health was founded in 2009. The startup is betting on the dwindling importance of employer-sponsored health plans, which ostensibly would be replaced by employers directing workers to the private exchanges with the same amount of payment, with less administrative burden, than the traditional employer plan.
