MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — GetInsured, a leading innovator in health insurance exchange technology, announced today the availability of Enhanced Direct Enrollment (EDE)-as-a-service to health insurance carriers and online web brokers for open enrollment season of 2019. The white-labeled solution will be offered as a simple set of application programming interfaces (APIs). The new EDE service will also be available on GetInsured’s consumer shopping site, GetInsured.com, and will be available to its network of more than 8,000 agents at AgentExpress.

The problem
Today, when consumers shop for health insurance on a third-party site in a federally facilitated marketplace (FFM) state, they go through two separate redirects (known as the “double redirect”). Let’s use GetInsured.com as an example. A consumer will select a plan and begin enrollment on GetInsured.com, but at the end of the enrollment process, the consumer is brought to Healthcare.gov to confirm their eligibility for individual marketplace coverage, premium tax credits, and cost-sharing reduction payments. This is the first redirect. After eligibility is confirmed, they are sent back to GetInsured.com (second redirect) to complete enrollment. The difference in look and feel between the two sites is often times confusing to consumers, the process is cumbersome, and the experience can be very time consuming. According to industry observers, drop-off rates during the double redirect may be as high as 95 percent.

The solution
EDE is a new standard created by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that allows brokers and consumers to start and finish their health insurance enrollments on a single website. Eliminating the double redirect makes enrollment easier, allows carriers and brokers to have the ability to service their customers more efficiently, and aims to decrease drop-off rates.

“CMS’s EDE pathway will result in increased marketplace enrollment, and it will require a significant investment from companies that want to be leaders in the space,” said Chris Condeluci, principal of CC Law & Policy, an Industry Expert. “GetInsured has been one of the few forward-thinking companies that has the expertise and know-how to help interested stakeholders to quickly and easily offer EDE services to consumers. Their EDE-as-a-service can effectively be leveraged, thereby limiting the expense of building the necessary IT infrastructure, and satisfying a CMS audit, before EDE enrollments can be executed.”

GetInsured was a pioneering participant in the early CMS discussions on how to best build an EDE pathway. Using the company’s best-in-class technology, while still adhering to CMS’s regulations and best practices for consumer experience and security, this low-cost solution allows carriers and web-based brokers across the country to easily utilize EDE during the six-week FFM open enrollment period.

“EDE is a critical step in easing one of the biggest pain points of individual and family health insurance enrollment,” said Chini Krishnan, co-founder and CEO, GetInsured. “As the first to market with an EDE solution, we are pleased to continue to help our carrier and broker partners grow the number of consumers enrolled in health plans and increasing their business.”

Learn More
GetInsured will be leading an Enhanced Direct Enrollment webinar in partnership with Fierce Health on April 10th that brings together experts to explain the steps carriers and brokers need to take in order to offer this capability to their consumers. Register for this webinar here: https://pages.questexweb.com/GetInsured-Registration-041018.html?source=GetInsured

Email hello@getinsured.com to get more information on GetInsured’s EDE services. To learn more about GetInsured, visit company.getinsured.com.

About GetInsured
GetInsured helps Americans enroll in health insurance that’s right for them by delivering the best health insurance ecommerce experience for consumers, employers, brokers, insurers and state-based marketplaces. Since its founding in 2005, GetInsured has helped millions of consumers enroll in health insurance through the GetInsured marketplace and through public and private exchanges powered by its ecommerce platform. The company also provides brokerage capabilities and flexible business process services to improve marketing, sales, and consumer engagement. To learn more visit company.getinsured.com.