Dive Brief:

• Aon Hewitt said the third-year enrollment results from its Aon Active Health Exchange clearly demonstrate that well-designed private health exchanges can deliver on their promise to control cost, engage consumers, and offer broad choice. For example, the program had renewed participation from 100% of employers and insurance companies
• The Exchange delivered engaged consumers, with consistent buying patterns year over year.
• The average annual health plan had cost increases of 2.6% over two years, compared to industry projections of 6.5%-8%.

Dive Insight:

A relatively new trend, private health exchanges' goal is to create a competitive marketplace for health insurance by featuring multiple insurance carriers that compete for each employee's business by offering a standardized menu of plans and coverage levels. So far, there is not much data on their long-term sustainability, but the Aon report does show some optimism.

At Aon client company Hallmark, for example, Tresia Franklin, HR Director for Total Rewards and Employee Relations, ​said benefits are one of the company's most important investments in attracting, retaining and motivating its workers. "The Aon Active Health Exchange creates a competitive health care marketplace that provides more choice than our traditional employer-sponsored plan, while enabling us to focus more on investing in other employee-centric initiatives," Franklin explained.

"Our model is bending the trend curve of health care spending for companies, while delivering more choice, affordable health care and a great experience to their employees," said Cary Grace, CEO of Aon Exchange Solutions. ​