Employee Benefits and the New Health Care Landscape ─ How Private Exchanges Are Bringing Choice and Consumerism to America's Workforce

Using new private benefit exchanges, employers can bring the attractions of consumer-centric online shopping to benefits, giving employees unprecedented flexibility in benefits choices -- while also controlling costs through a defined compensation approach, just as they've done with retirement funding.

 

In this book, private benefit exchange innovator Alan Cohen introduces the concept to consultants, HR professionals, business owners, and insurers, and presents complete best practices for successful implementation. Drawing on his experience pioneering private benefit exchanges with Liazon's Bright Choices, Cohen:

• Shows how online shopping has transformed consumer behavior, and how to apply these insights to the benefits industry
• Explores the important shift to a defined contribution approach for benefits: the next wave from fee-for-service to managed care, to consumer-driven high-deductible health plans with HSAs
• Shows how private exchanges can benefit both employers and employees
• Helps you transition away from inefficient employer-managed plans
• Explains the role and value of brokers in the marketplace
• Reveals how exchanges affect HR
• Demonstrates how private benefits exchanges can optimize cultural economies such as training, education, and social services
• Projects the impact of trends such as industry consolidation, the Affordable Care Act, and its public exchanges
• Examines the expansion and progress of the exchange system via multiple case studies
• Shows how to achieve the full potential of choice marketplaces

Alan Cohen co-founded Liazon, operator of one of the industry’s leading private benefits exchanges for businesses of all sizes, in 2007. Liazon was acquired by Towers Watson, now Willis Towers Watson, in 2013.

Alan has been a leader in the benefits space for over two decades. Prior to cofounding Liazon, he was CEO and cofounder of Online Benefits, one of the first web-based benefits technology companies in the United States. He led the company through its sale to A.D.A.M, a global provider of consumer health information and benefits technology solutions, and later served as president of A.D.A.M. Prior to cofounding Online Benefits, he worked in the insurance industry for Prudential, Mass Mutual, and Cigna and served as managing director for a division of Northwestern Mutual Life.

Alan is often sought out for his insights on private exchanges, their role in the new health care landscape, and their effect on businesses. His expert commentary has appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Yahoo! Finance, CNBC.com, and numerous benefits publications, including Employee Benefit News and Benefits Pro. In 2016, Alan was a recipient of an “Industry Innovator” award by the Institute for HealthCare Consumerism (IHC). IHC’s 11th annual “HealthCare Consumerism Superstars and Industry Innovator Awards” recognized the year’s top executives for their work in transforming the landscape of corporate health and benefits.

In this book, Alan draws on his in-depth experience in the benefits industry to share how the key principles he used to create one of the first private exchange platforms over 10 years ago is still relevant to anyone interested in forging a better system for all.

Alan holds a BA from Cornell University, an MBA from Columbia Business School, and an MBA from London Business School, where he won the Award for Academic Excellence.

Alan resides in Westchester, New York, with his family and spends summer weekends in Woodstock, New York. The Cohens are avid skiers and outdoors people.