Partnership to launch a new employee-centric ICHRA solution to help benefit brokers grow their business while supporting employer cost control and greater employee choice
eHealth (Nasdaq: EHTH), a leading private online health insurance marketplace, and Nexben, a leading health benefits administration platform, today announced a partnership to help employers offer more affordable, flexible health coverage options to their employees while equipping health benefit brokers with the tools to deliver and support Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) solutions.
The partnership is expected to introduce one of the market’s first employee-centric ICHRA solutions, combining eHealth’s nearly three decades of marketplace, enrollment, and advisory experience with Nexben’s ICHRA administration and payment technology. The eHealth/Nexben ICHRA solution aims to help employers manage the rising and unpredictable costs of traditional group health plans while enabling employees to confidently enroll in coverage from leading national and regional carriers.
“This partnership seeks to help make it easier for people to shop for health coverage with the same clarity and confidence they expect in other parts of their lives,” said Derrick Duke, CEO of eHealth. “Together with Nexben, our goal is to strengthen what we deliver to employers and licensed insurance brokers, and make it easier for employees to compare plans, get quotes, enroll, and access support.”
Helping benefit brokers deliver ICHRA solutions
As ICHRA adoption grows, the partnership is designed to help brokers expand their role and better support employers and employees by offering brokers:
- Smart quoting technology with data-driven estimates.
- Integration with the leading insurers, ensuring seamless and accurate enrollments and making it easy for consumers to check coverage status.
- Ability to maintain agent of record and preserve client relationships.
- Licensing and advisory support in states where needed.
- Employer and employee education, including trainings and onboarding support to help ensure a smooth transition.
Helping employees compare and choose coverage
With ICHRA, employers set a defined monthly contribution toward each employee’s coverage. Through the integrated platform, employees can:
- Compare hundreds of Affordable Care Act (ACA)-compliant plans from approximately 50 leading national and regional carriers.
- See clear employer contributions alongside plan options.
- Enroll online or by phone with support from licensed insurance agents.
- Access medical, dental, and vision plans in one place.
- Receive ongoing support throughout the year.
“Nexben’s partnership with eHealth was driven by a shared commitment to simplifying health benefits administration while also expanding employee choice,” said Mark Smith, CEO of Nexben. “By combining Nexben’s ICHRA administration and payment capabilities with eHealth’s marketplace and advisory expertise, we are focused on putting control back into the hands of consumers. We aim to achieve this by serving as the off-ramp for employers dealing with rising health insurance costs while giving employees what they want, not just what they need.”
Helping employers simplify administration and control costs
The combined solution is designed to enable employers to adopt ICHRA as a health benefit with greater ease and confidence by providing:
- Average savings of 17% on healthcare costs.1
- Flexibility to structure contributions across employee classes.
- Real-time visibility into enrollments and participation.
- Integrated enrollment and payment workflows.
- Automated premium payments to reduce coverage gaps and service issues.
A more connected and scalable ICHRA solution
The partnership aims to deliver a unified and frictionless experience across quoting, enrollment, and payments, which is expected to reduce administrative complexity for employers while improving the experience for employees and benefit advisors.
This approach is also expected to provide employers with greater cost control and flexibility, contribute to higher employee satisfaction compared to traditional group plans,2 and enable licensed insurance brokers to maintain client relationships while expanding into ICHRA solutions.
The partnership is designed to support broader adoption of ICHRA, with enrollment in these plans increasing more than 50% year over year.3
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