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Products March 29, 2012
Mercer Offers Exchange-Type Health Care Solutions
March 29, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Mercer has developed exchange-type offerings designed to help organizations of all sizes manage employee and retiree health plans.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
Mercer’s Exchange Suite includes:
Mercer Health Advantage – Mercer Health Advantage (MHA) allows self-funded employers with 3,000 or more employees to enroll their employees in new medical plans, beginning January 1, 2013. These programs are designed to save employers 5% or more of medical plan costs with the same plan design they have in place today. The savings come from select networks with providers chosen for their quality and cost-effectiveness. Employers also gain access to dedicated MHA clinical care management with ongoing oversight and audit by a team of Mercer clinicians. Mercer plans to offer MHA to smaller self-funded employers in 2014.
Mercer Benefits Choice Exchange – Mercer is expanding its private exchange, Mercer Benefits Choice Exchange (MBCE), which it has piloted in the Midwest. Powered by a decisionmaking support tool, MBCE is designed to help organizations with 100 to 1,000 employees offer workers more options with less administrative responsibility. MBCE enables employers to contribute a set amount to a Health Reimbursement Account; employees then select the best-fit coverage using an online decision support and enrollment tool. Mercer says private exchanges provide employers of all sizes with an opportunity to continue offering coverage–with more choice for employees and less cost for the company. Mercer’s pilot program will expand into new locations this year and next.
Retiree Medical Exchanges – A significant shift is taking place in the retiree health benefit market, corresponding to the growing employer demand for solutions targeted at current and future retirees. To meet this demand, Mercer entered into arrangements with several leading vendors to leverage any employer subsidy available for retiree coverage (typically Medicare-eligible retirees, initially) by converting to a defined contribution model that allows retirees to purchase individual coverage that best meets their needs.
More information about Mercer’s suite of exchange solutions is available from Mercer consultants, as well as at http://www.mercer.com/exchangesuite.