Boston, September 12, 2013 - In anticipation of the first Affordable Care Act-mandated enrollment period, public and private healthcare exchanges--retail e-commerce websites offering commercial-carrier health plans--have emerged, champing at the bit to become healthcare's answer to large Web purveyors such as Amazon.com. Where public exchanges offer deeply regulated health insurance products for direct individual purchase, private exchanges will provide an alternative for employers that favor reducing the expense of administering benefits while offering their employees comprehensive packages and avoiding penalties. As a result, private exchanges stand to affect the adoption of public exchanges' group coverage by enticing employers before 2017, when group insurance will become available through public exchanges.

Based on qualitative surveys with executives from commercial health plans and third-party plan administrators, this Impact Report by senior analyst Michael Trilli focuses on key areas of this emerging market: timing, barriers, the retail-channel opportunity as it relates to lower premium high-deductible health plans, and leaders and laggards among a growing list of private exchange vendors focusing on enrollment and payment technologies.

This 32-page Impact Report contains 20 figures and one table. Clients of Aite Group's Health Insurance service can download the report .