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Products March 8, 2010
Hewitt Expands Into Retiree Health Market
March 8, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Outsourcing and consultant giant Hewitt Associates has acquired Senior Educators Ltd.
Reported by Nevin E. Adams
According to a press release, Senior Educators is a “Web-based retiree medical insurance exchange that provides unbiased assistance to Medicare recipients seeking high-quality, affordable supplemental insurance products”.
Founded in 2005, Senior Educators is licensed to market insurance in 50 states and in the District of Columbia. Users of Senior Educators’ services can compare and select insurance plans using a do-it-yourself option through the company’s interactive Web site or choose to speak live with a licensed representative.
Senior Educators has also forged relationships with employers—those with and without traditional retiree medical offers—that want to provide resources to their retirees. Not surprisingly, Hewitt notes that while it will continue the direct-to-consumer model, it will also “increase the emphasis on corporate clients by taking advantage of its already-strong market credibility in health care administration”.
“Building” Blocks
The acquisition of Senior Educators provides Hewitt with the key building blocks needed to expand its services in the retiree health market, according to the announcement. It brings a “solid proprietary technology platform, strong relationships with the major health plan providers and a skilled team”, while Hewitt says it will invest in sales, marketing and infrastructure to “quickly scale this business”.
“The retiree health insurance market represents an attractive growth opportunity for Hewitt as more employers discontinue retiree medical coverage or look for ways to provide retirees with cost-effective alternatives,” said Russ Fradin, Hewitt’s chairman and chief executive officer, in the announcment. “The acquisition of Senior Educators also allows us to provide our clients with an effective, high-quality option to address their post-65 retiree medical commitments and a framework on which to build solutions for the broader retiree population.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.