Webinar Recording Now Available - Emerging Private Health Insurance Exchanges: How Should Regulators and Public Policy Respond?

Tuesday, January 26, 2016, 2:00 – 3:15 p.m. EST

Overview:  Over the past decade, the concept of using private multi-carrier exchanges to create managed competition for employee-sponsored health insurance took significant hold only with respect to retiree health benefits. In the past few years, however, private exchanges offering health coverage for active workers from competing insurers have emerged among both large and small employers. Despite the marked potential of private exchanges, their growth has been slower than expected, raising public policy and regulatory questions.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) initiative hosted a webinar that addressed the potential benefits and drawbacks of private multi-carrier exchanges, from a regulatory perspective. Mark Hall from Wake Forest University presented his recent HCFO-funded work exploring the current state and potential future of private exchanges. Hall also discussed whether regulatory intervention is called for at this juncture in the development of these exchanges, either to spur their development or guard against potential concerns. The full results of the study are available in the report “Private Health Insurance Exchanges for Employers: Issues for Regulators and Public Policy [1].” An overview and summary of the key findings are available in the related HCFO Study Snapshot [2].

Following Prof. Hall’s presentation, discussant Alan Cohen, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of Liazon, an exchange technology provider, offered his insights on the implications of the study findings for employers. Hall and Cohen responded to participants’ questions during the final 30 minutes of the webinar.

This presentation is intended to be a professional resource.

This webinar was presented by the Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) initiative, the national program office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation administered by AcademyHealth.

A recording of the webinar is available here [3].