eHealth and Nexben Partner to Expand ICHRA Opportunities for Health Benefit Brokers, Employers, and Employees
Partnership to launch a new employee-centric ICHRA solution to help benefit brokers grow their business while supporting employer cost control and greater employee choice
INDIANAPOLIS and GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- eHealth (NASDAQ:EHTH), a leading private online health insurance marketplace, and Nexben, a leading health benefits administration platform, today announced a partnership to help employers offer more affordable, flexible health coverage options to their employees while equipping health benefit brokers with the tools to deliver and support Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) solutions.
The partnership is expected to introduce one of the market's first employee-centric ICHRA solutions, combining eHealth's nearly three decades of marketplace, enrollment, and advisory experience with Nexben's ICHRA administration and payment technology. The eHealth/Nexben ICHRA solution aims to help employers manage the rising and unpredictable costs of traditional group health plans while enabling employees to confidently enroll in coverage from leading national and regional carriers.
"This partnership seeks to help make it easier for people to shop for health coverage with the same clarity and confidence they expect in other parts of their lives," said Derrick Duke, CEO of eHealth. "Together with Nexben, our goal is to strengthen what we deliver to employers and licensed insurance brokers, and make it easier for employees to compare plans, get quotes, enroll, and access support."
Helping benefit brokers deliver ICHRA solutions
As ICHRA adoption grows, the partnership is designed to help brokers expand their role and better support employers and employees by offering brokers:
- Smart quoting technology with data-driven estimates.
- Integration with the leading insurers, ensuring seamless and accurate enrollments and making it easy for consumers to check coverage status.
- Ability to maintain agent of record and preserve client relationships.
- Licensing and advisory support in states where needed.
- Employer and employee education, including trainings and onboarding support to help ensure a smooth transition.
Helping employees compare and choose coverage
With ICHRA, employers set a defined monthly contribution toward each employee's coverage. Through the integrated platform, employees can:
- Compare hundreds of Affordable Care Act (ACA)-compliant plans from approximately 50 leading national and regional carriers.
- See clear employer contributions alongside plan options.
- Enroll online or by phone with support from licensed insurance agents.
- Access medical, dental, and vision plans in one place.
- Receive ongoing support throughout the year.
"Nexben's partnership with eHealth was driven by a shared commitment to simplifying health benefits administration while also expanding employee choice," said Mark Smith, CEO of Nexben. "By combining Nexben's ICHRA administration and payment capabilities with eHealth's marketplace and advisory expertise, we are focused on putting control back into the hands of consumers. We aim to achieve this by serving as the off-ramp for employers dealing with rising health insurance costs while giving employees what they want, not just what they need."
Helping employers simplify administration and control costs
The combined solution is designed to enable employers to adopt ICHRA as a health benefit with greater ease and confidence by providing:
- Average savings of 17% on healthcare costs.1
- Flexibility to structure contributions across employee classes.
- Real-time visibility into enrollments and participation.
- Integrated enrollment and payment workflows.
- Automated premium payments to reduce coverage gaps and service issues.
A more connected and scalable ICHRA solution
The partnership aims to deliver a unified and frictionless experience across quoting, enrollment, and payments, which is expected to reduce administrative complexity for employers while improving the experience for employees and benefit advisors.
This approach is also expected to provide employers with greater cost control and flexibility, contribute to higher employee satisfaction compared to traditional group plans,2 and enable licensed insurance brokers to maintain client relationships while expanding into ICHRA solutions.
The partnership is designed to support broader adoption of ICHRA, with enrollment in these plans increasing more than 50% year over year.3
About eHealth
For nearly 30 years, eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ:EHTH) has helped millions of Americans find the healthcare coverage that fits their needs at a price they can afford, using data, artificial intelligence and a consumer-first approach to help people quickly and effectively compare insurance options. As a leading independent licensed insurance agency and advisor, eHealth offers access to plans from more than 180 health insurers, including national and regional companies, supporting consumers during their working years and retirement. eHealth's team of licensed insurance agents helps match consumers with the insurance plans, services, and support they need to live healthier, more financially secure lives. For more information, visit eHealth or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X.
eHealth media inquiries: pr@ehealth.com
Investor relations contact:
Kate Sidorovich, CFA
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
investors@ehealth.com
About Nexben
Nexben is an end-to-end benefits platform powering up defined contribution and ICHRA strategies. The organization's turnkey enrollment and marketplace solution provides better administration, payments, and reconciliation, supporting the broker's critical role throughout the entire consultative process. Nexben partners with brokers and advisors to develop innovative strategies that create substantial savings and high satisfaction rates for their clients. The company's commitment to enhancing healthcare accessibility ensures that employees can confidently navigate their health options and gain more control over their healthcare decisions. For more information about Nexben, please visit nexben.com.
Media Contact:
pr@nexben.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, the following: statements regarding the expected benefits of the partnership between eHealth and Nexben; industry and market trends, including market opportunity, consumer demand and competitive advantages of the partnership; expectations regarding the adoption and growth of Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs); expectations regarding technological and digital capabilities of the combined platform; expected cost savings and administrative efficiencies for employers, and improved experiences and service capabilities for employees and benefit advisors; expectations regarding the functionality, performance and scalability of the combined platform; and other statements regarding future operations, financial condition, prospects and business strategies of eHealth and/or Nexben.
These forward-looking statements are inherently subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. The risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: changes in laws, regulations and guidelines, including those relating to healthcare reform, ICHRA or the Affordable Care Action; market adoption of ICHRA solutions; and the ability to integrate and deliver the combined solution and realize the anticipated benefits of the partnership, among others.
Other factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements are described in eHealth's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on the Investor Relations page of eHealth's website at https://ir.ehealthinsurance.com and on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov.
These forward-looking statements on current expectations about future events, and these statements are not guarantees of future performance. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to eHealth as of the date hereof, and eHealth does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.
1 Based on an eHealth analysis of third-party data on individual rates compared to traditional group plan rates in OH, MN, GA, KY, IN & FL.
2 Deft Research, 2026, https://deftresearch.com/commercial-group-ichra-and-alternative-health-plans-study/
3 HRA Council, 2025, https://www.hracouncil.org/report
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SOURCE eHealth, Inc.