The Private Benefit Exchange Index rose again last month and all indications are that it will increase more quickly in the months to come.
Since June – the first posting of the Private Benefit Exchange Index – the eight operators participating in the PBE Index’s data collection effort report that more than 830 employers have moved workers to their exchanges. This, in turn, has led to an increase of 143,951 employees and 315,763 more lives now being covered by benefit plans sold through the sites.
The expectation on the part of the operators is that they’ll see their numbers climb as employers move into open enrollment season.
And the momentum should continue over the next two years as new research from Deliotte and Aite Group finds a significant number of companies eying a move to a private exchange.
“Thirty percent of non-adopters say they are interested in moving to private exchanges, and the majority of those interested (62 percent) say they are likely to move in the next one-to-two years,” according to Deloitte’ Center for Health Solutions 2015 Survey of U.S. Employers.
Those numbers were similar to those put out in early October by the Aite Group. The researcher said that 27% of employers will move to a private exchange by 2017. And, interestingly, Aite said much of the movement to private exchange will come from midsize companies.
Employee Benefit News and Employee Benefit Adviser’s Private Benefit Exchange Index will continue to track the actual number of organizations moving to online benefit marketplaces.
To compile the PBE Index, EBA and EBN collect data from eight leading exchange operators on the number of employers using each platform, the number of employees enrolled in benefits through each platform and the number of lives covered by the policies sold through each platform. Every month, the editors aggregate and update the operators’ numbers.
The eight exchanges selected by the editors to participate in the PBE Index are a representative cross-section of the operator market and include benefitsCONNECT, bswift, Hanna, Lockton, Medica, Simple Insurance, Softheon and Solstice. The information provided by these brokers, insurers and technology-platform companies is self-reported and rounded.
For more information on the PBE Index, to access a directory of private benefit exchange operators, and to see the latest PBE news, go to our
