Bloomfield-based health insurer Cigna said it has launched its own private insurance exchange in several U.S. cities that it hopes to expand to other markets.
The exchange, targeted at employers, is running in Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Cigna said its exchange offers employees more plan options than they might normally have, simplifies administrative responsibilities and can help control costs.
Private exchanges have existed for some time, but are becoming more common in the wake of the Affordable Care Act, which set up public exchanges run by both individual states and the federal government.
Besides its private exchange, which contains only Cigna products, the insurer has also joined a number of other private exchanges administered by benefits consultants and brokerage firms.
Cigna was one of a number of insurers that opted not to participate in Connecticut’s public exchange, Access Health CT because of concerns over profitability and the public exchange’s target audience of individuals and small companies not aligning with its core business.
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