Dive Brief:

• Fidelity's decision to shake up the private benefit exchange market may have surprised some observers, but the investment behemoth is poised to make a real competitive dent, according to Employee Benefit News.
• The EBN article reports that Fidelity's exchange has undergone a tryout in New York and Massachusetts with a a few employers during the past year.
• That pilot, so to speak, included access to a carrier network with health insurance (medical, dental vision) and a lineup of voluntary products, along with flexible savings accounts, tax-advantaged accounts and wellness tools, such as telemedicine, mindfulness and cost transparency apps.

Dive Insight:

As reported, the focus for its Fidelity Health Marketplace is the "fastest-growing segment of the market" – small and midsize firms. It will be interesting to see how HR leaders and top executives (many who make benefits decisions at small employers), respond to this new option.

Joe Laurin, president of Fidelity Health Marketplace, told EBN that technology today can do almost anything online, and benefits should be no different no matter how small an employer might be. To meet that need, Laurin said Fidelity created a user-friendly online experience that centralizes all of an employee’s health benefits in one place, while alleviating the burden of benefits administration and expanding choice for this underserved market.

Ashok Subramanian, managing director of Willis Towers Watson’s group exchange business and CEO and co-founder of Liazon, a private benefit exchange based in New York, told EBN that Fidelity’s move is proof that “exchanges are at the forefront of the future of healthcare and benefits delivery.”