A new report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) says nearly three million people currently receive employer health benefits through a private exchange.
Three times as many people are enrolled in private exchanges as last year and the company expects 40 million people to enter private exchanges over the next four years, Accenture said June 12.
The company says the increase in private exchange has had a direct correlation on benefit choices and trade-off decisions and hastened the “benefit trade-off” amount of funds collected by hospitals by those patients without health benefits.
Accenture estimates that 25 percent of those enrolled in private exchanges purchased less health coverage than in years previous.
The American Hospital Association estimates that in 2012 more than $45 billion in healthcare, without compensation, was provided by U.S. hospitals.
Hypergrowth has the potential for a positive trajectory, according to Accenture, which predicts that participation in private health insurance may reach an equilibrium in 2017.
