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HealthAxis.com Taps IBM to Reach
'Holy Grail' of Online Insurance Sales
HealthAxis.com, a company that is developing a service to allow consumers to buy health insurance and in the future, probably property and casualty insurance as well from an array of insurers online, has tapped IBM to provide the technology to support its business goals.
IBM will provide the technology that will allow consumers to purchase policies from HealthAxis.com's insurance partners online and check their claims status as well. Currently, there is just one carrier Provident American, a former affiliate of HealthAxis.com live on the HealthAxis.com site. The company
has signed deals with seven other companies and will roll them out over the next six months or more.
The IBM technology will make the job of integrating the new carriers much easier, said Jon Tulk, chief technology officer, HealthAxis.com. It will also allow HealthAxis.com to provide new features on its Web site more easily, he said. Tulk joined the company in March from N2K, and was given responsibility for creating a new version of the Web site.
The firm's relationship with IBM will also help HealthAxis.com in its efforts to attract insurance carrier partners, according to Craig Gitlitz, senior vice president, business affairs. "When we talk to [potential insurance company partners], they want to know we can integrate a new carrier into our Web site," Gitlitz said. "Telling them IBM is our strategic partner gives these partners confidence," he said.
IBM is helping HealthAxis.com, which launched its Web site last December, to redesign the site, Gitlitz said. The new site will have an insurance planner that will make recommendations on particular carriers and policies based on information from consumers such as age, income, number of dependents, and
deductible, Gitlitz said.
Gitlitz said HealthAxis.com is the only online insurance provider that allows consumers to buy a policy online. The company is aiming to have enough deals in place by the end of next year to give consumers in each state a choice of products, Gitlitz said.
The next step would be to add property and casualty insurance products such as auto, homeowners and renters insurance, Gitlitz said. It's a "natural progression in building HealthAxis.com as a one-stop shop for all insurance needs," he said.
Gary Craft, an analyst with E*Offering, said HealthAxis.com is "the only [consumer insurance aggregator] provider fully connected, end-to-end." The company "has really reached the Holy Grail, which is straight-through processing," he said. "By processing all the way back through to the insurer, they're driving costs down and passing [those savings] through to
the consumer," said Craft.
Indeed, insurance agents typically receive 20% of insurance premiums in commissions; HealthAxis.com plans to pass half of that amount on to the consumer, and keep the balance, Gitlitz said.
A 'Digital Agent'
HealthAxis.com is majority owned by Provident American, formerly a life and health insurer that until last December sold its products through independent agents. But since creating HealthAxis.com in late 1997, Provident American has been reinventing itself. The company sold its health and agency business late last year to the Ceres Group and is planning to
sell its life underwriting business as well, Gitlitz said. Then Provident American plans to merge with HealthAxis.com; the new entity will have the name of HealthAxis.com, and its only business will to be a "digital agent," Gitlitz said. "At the end of the day, we're a marketing company and a technology company," he said.
To market its service, HealthAxis.com has inked marketing pacts with four Internet portal sites: America Online, Lycos, Cnet and Snap. Under these deals, only HealthAxis.com can advertise the types of insurance that it provides on those portals, Gitlitz said.
Insurers that have agreed to sell their policies through HealthAxis.com include Wellpoint, owner of Blue Cross of California and Unicare, which sells insurance in six states; Aegon; Fortis Health; U.S. Life; United Insurance Cos.; Ceres Group, Ameritas and Security Life Insurance. Among the
products available through those companies are individual and small group health insurance, supplemental senior health insurance, short-term and student health insurance, disability insurance, long-term care, dental and vision insurance coverage.
HealthAxis.com, which raised $5.75 million last year from investors including AOL (WebFinance, Dec. 14, 1998), has raised nearly $20 million this year, from investors including Intel, Tudor Investments, a money management firm, First Health Group, a network of doctors and hospitals, and United Insurance Cos., a health insurer, Gitlitz said. |
