Liazon launches private multi-carrier exchange

The Bright Choices Exchange is designed to offer ancillary benefits and access to mid-sized and large employers nationwide.

A new private multi-carrier exchange offering a full benefits marketplace, has been launched by Liazon Corp., operator of the Bright Choices Exchange. Liazon was acquired by Towers Watson in November of 2013 for $215 million in an effort to consolidate its health care exchanges and administration expertise and resources within the company’s new Exchange Solutions segment.

The private multi-carrier exchange is intended to help employers and employees save money by promoting competition, matching products to people’s underlying benefits needs and activating greater employee engagement in health care, Liazon said.  The exchange will be available nationwide on both a fully-insured and self-insured basis and targets national employers with 3,000 or more employees. Employees now can shop from dozens of plan designs and multiple medical carriers, including Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and a panel of regional health plans, Liazon said.

“UnitedHealthcare helps consumers navigate the health care experience by creating simpler, more personalized plans and services,” said Elizabeth Winsor, CEO UnitedHealthcare National Accounts. “We believe our partnership with Liazon will give Bright Choices Exchange customers more choice and flexibility in their health care benefits.”

The Bright Choices Exchange features a suite of ancillary and other benefits, the company said, including pharmacy, dental, vision, life, disability, critical illness, accident, FSAs, HSAs, telemedicine, pet insurance, identity theft protection and legal plans from companies including Aetna, Allstate Benefits, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, MetLife, OptumRx, Sun Life Financial and UnitedHealthcare, LIazon said

“In our six years of experience operating private exchanges, Liazon has found that through greater financial ownership, real choice, and an advanced shopping experience — both employers and employees save money and enhance satisfaction with benefits,” said Ashok Subramanian, CEO and co-founder of Liazon. “This new marketplace advances private exchanges to a new stratosphere and will completely transform how benefits are delivered in America.”

Bright Choices offers a defined contribution platform for employers and a guided shopping experience that allows employees to navigate plan options from multiple carriers, the company said. A proprietary analytical engine, which uses statistical modeling, education and personal insights, can help build a combination of benefits plans for individual coverage needs and budgets, Liazon said.

Liazon has been delivering its Bright Choices private benefits exchange to companies since 2008, the company said, through its distribution network of broker partners. It now services more than 500 mid-sized and large businesses, Liazon said.

Chris McMahon is a senior editor for Insurance Networking News, a SourceMedia publication.

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