Health insurance service providers join forces
Insurance brokerage OneDigital has acquired HealthWorks, an insurance advisor focused on Medicare patients.
The deal brings together two insurance service companies that complement OneDigital’s consumer-facing solutions. HealthWorks is a Medicare distributor that has enrolled nearly 200,000 members into Medicare. The company anticipates enrolling more than one thousand Medicare eligibles per day during the fourth quarter of 2022. Open enrollment for Medicare runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 every year.
OneDigital has made recent wealth management acquisitions as it seeks to expand its health and financial services offering to millions of U.S. households. The company sees significant opportunity to expand its business with the aging population, as 1,000 people in the United States turn 65 every day. The older population is the fastest-growing segment of the health insurance space, the company said.
The deal comes as the healthcare industry has seen massive consolidation over the past several years, particularly on the provider side. Health systems and hospitals have been moving at a rapid clip in megamergers, while independent and physician-owned practices have increasingly been gobbled up by private equity groups. The trend has dramatically changed the healthcare landscape. Plus, consolidation is not expected to slow down, even as these mega deals face more scrutiny and antitrust challenges.
For OneDigital, the merger enables the company to offer a new services to its clients, and build on its other recent growth in insurance, financial services and HR consulting through expansions, organic growth and acquisitions.
"The addition of HealthWorks provides us with a platform-level opportunity to help a significant segment of our population with their healthcare needs," Adam Bruckman, president and CEO of OneDigital, said in a statement. "We have been looking for years for the right team at the right time to move aggressively into providing Medicare as an additional offering to our customers. … The merged organizations will be able to solve client needs at both the employer and individual family level."
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."