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MIAMI, FL (November 10, 2015) – LevelFunded Health, an innovative health insurance agency offering small business-focused benefit alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, announced today it has secured a second round of Venture Capital with Hiscox Holdings Inc. (London Stock Exchange: HSX). Hiscox, an international specialty insurer backed by Chicago-based Hiscox Insurance Company, Inc., led the private equity round and also receives a minority equity stake in LevelFunded Health through the deal.
LevelFunded Health has emerged as an alternative to ‘Obamacare’ for small businesses with concerns over rising health insurance premiums as it can potentially save 10 to 40 percent annually, plus provide an opportunity for annual refunds on their health benefit expense. Founded in 2014, LevelFunded Health is rapidly growing its national client base given its expertise and focus on these ACA alternatives.
“Hiscox boasts over 100,000 small business customers on the property and casualty side of commercial insurance, therefore, a joint-venture seemed to make great business sense given our mutual interests in serving the broader small business market segment,” said Russ Carpel, CEO of LevelFunded Health. “Not only is LevelFunded Health fortunate enough to have Hiscox as a capital partner, but Hiscox and LevelFunded Health will have a great opportunity to cross promote products and services to one another’s client base.”
As part of the deal, Ben Walter, CEO of Hiscox U.S. is receiving seat on the company’s board, which helps provide strategic guidance as the company continues to scale. In addition to Hiscox, other investors in the round include Insure.VC (a prominent insurance venture capital fund) along with CCCC Growth Fund (a California-based private equity fund) of whom the latter also participated in the company’s initial seed financing.
LevelFunded benefit programs appear like hybrids between traditional small group health plans and concepts typically reserved for large corporations, known as ‘self-insurance”. There’s a stark difference between the traditional definition of self-funding and level-funding. Small businesses with five or more employees can cover employees on their own with the added security blanket of a stop loss policy from an A-rated insurance carrier that handles the plan’s administration and excess risk above a certain limit. Businesses simply set aside the cash to cover anticipated claim expenses. The monthly premium remains the same (level) during the whole year and if claims are less than the funded amount, a rebate or credit is issued at the end of the year. If claims go over the funded amount, businesses are protected by a stop-loss policy.
“This part of the insurance market is just beginning to emerge and can really make a big difference to small businesses,” added Carpel. “For the past 18-24 months, small businesses have seen their traditional small group health insurance premiums rise by as much as 10-200 percent, and that’s a huge dent to the bottom line.”
Small businesses with fairly healthy populations with five or more employees are eligible for coverage in most states, and additional benefits include no penalties or taxation, and no more navigating state SHOP exchanges.
LevelFunded Health is a national, tech-enabled commercial health insurance distribution platform focused on level and self-insured benefit programs for middle market employer groups nationwide. LFH specifically works for private equity firms based in New York, Florida and Texas, to immediately improve EBITDA across their entire portfolio of middle market holdings. LFH immediately saves these businesses anywhere from $100,000 to $2 million plus per year on health insurance costs, while simultaneously improving employee benefits, debt ratios and exit valuations.
For more information, please visit LevelFunded.com.
Press Contact:
John Sternal
Merit Mile
jsternal@meritmile.com
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