Park City, Utah (PRWEB) September 24, 2013
Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on Walgreens private exchange.
According to Zane Benefits’ website, Walgreens has joined the ranks of thousands of businesses small and large by announcing it will move to a Defined Contribution model for employee health benefits in 2014. Through the plan, Walgreens will allocate a fixed dollar amount for employees to purchase health insurance through a private health exchange.
Previously, Walgreens had two insurers offering two plans each; now they have five insurance companies offering five plans each. It will also provide an opportunity for Walgreens retirees, who weren’t previously eligible for health care benefits, to participate in plans.
Currently, most large employers are self-insured, so if one year everyone gets sick and premiums increase as a result, the employer pays for it. With the defined contribution and a private exchange model, employers have more controllable health insurance expenses because they provide a defined contribution to each employee and allow the employee to choose which plan best fits their need.
Walgreens isn’t the only large company sending their employees to the private exchanges; International Business Machines Corp (IBM) and Time Warner Inc. have both moved their retirees to private exchanges. Sears switched to a defined contribution and private exchange model last year, and Trader Joe’s Co. recently announced that they will send its employees to the public exchanges for health insurance.
Source: Wall Street Journal 9/18/2013
Click here to read the full article.
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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHRA") for defined contribution health care. The flagship software provides a 100% paperless administration experience to small businesses and insurance professionals that want to offer better health benefits without a traditional group health insurance plan at lower costs. For more information about Zane Benefits, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com.