Walmart may soon launch a private health insurance exchange for small businesses, which could lower premiums significantly.
The federal government isn’t the only player in town when it comes to rethinking health care—Walmart is considering the launch of a private health insurance exchange for small businesses. These exchanges aren’t new; several Fortune 500 companies currently operate them for their employees.
Private exchanges operate for the benefit of the employees of the sponsoring company. The company prepares a menu of health insurance plans; providers then compete for the right to sell these plans to employees. This competition lowers premium costs for employees, and providers are interested because it gives them access to a large pool of customers.
Walmart’s exchange would be open to participating small businesses and would permit them to leverage Walmart’s scale and expertise in negotiating with health insurance providers. Stay tuned for more information on this developing news.
A little about Mike Periu
Periu founded Proximo, LLC nearly 15 years ago. The company provides small business education and training services with an emphasis on finance and technology.
Periu teaches empowerment through entrepreneurship and economic opportunity. He regularly appears on television and radio talking about these subjects.
Periu also writes for leading blogs about finance. These include: American Express OpenForum, Yahoo! Finanzas and the Huffington Post.
Periu studied Finance and International Business at Georgetown University. He is a Board member at the Council for Economic Education.
