Category: Press Releases

**NOTE: Ideon is the company formerly known as Vericred. Vericred began operating as Ideon on May 18, 2022.**

OMAHA, Neb., July 7, 2021 – New York City-based Vericred, a data platform powering digital experiences in health insurance and employee benefits, today announced plans to expand operations in Omaha.

The InsurTech platform, which recently completed $23 million in Series B funding, said the Omaha location will support the doubling of Vericred’s workforce, by adding an expected 30-40 highly skilled positions in the Metro. Vericred has hired a husband and wife—Matthew Leonard and Val Leonard, both formerly of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska—to lead its carrier and Omaha-based enrollment teams, respectively.

“As a technology, insurance and financial services hub, Omaha is a natural fit to support Vericred’s growth,” said Michael W. Levin, CEO and co-founder of Vericred. “We considered locations throughout the U.S. for our enrollments operations, and landed on Omaha, because of its insurance-industry talent, its emerging startup scene and its reputation as an incubator of innovation.”

Vericred’s entry into the Omaha market was facilitated by a public-private collaborative of stakeholders, including the Greater Omaha Chamber Economic Development Partnership, a seven-county collective representing 44 percent of Nebraska’s population, and more than 60 percent of the state’s GDP.

“We are pleased to welcome Vericred to Omaha and are roundly impressed with the remarkable progress they’ve made during a pandemic economy,” said David G. Brown, president and CEO, Greater Omaha Chamber. “Vericred scouted office locations, signed a lease and hired Omaha leadership, all remotely.”

Omaha, ranked the best city in Nebraska to get a job in 2021, according to Zippia, has outpaced the nation in finance-and-insurance-industry growth for the past six years, increasing at a rate of 26.2 percent compared to national average of 7.1 percent.

“We’re happy to be in Omaha, and ready to hire across our enrollment operations, engineering, sales, and carrier relations teams,” Levin said.

About Vericred

Vericred is the way health insurance carriers and employee benefits providers connect with new technology partners to deliver seamless quote-to-card consumer experiences. We are not the websites or apps you use to choose a plan or find a doctor. We are the infrastructure. We are the ‘pipes’ that simplify the complex exchange of quoting, enrollment and eligibility data between carriers and the technology partners responsible for delivering health and employee benefits to hundreds of millions of Americans everyday. Our APIs transmit billions of data points between InsurTech and insurance carriers, powering digital distribution across the insurance industry. Come join the community of insurance geeks creating a seamless digital quote-to-card experience.

About the Greater Omaha Chamber Economic Development Partnership

The Greater Omaha Chamber Economic Development Partnership (https://www.omahachamber.org/economic-development/) represents a seven-county area from two states (Nebraska and Iowa) that includes Cass, Dodge, Douglas, Otoe, Pottawattamie, Sarpy and Washington Counties.

About Greater Omaha

Greater Omaha is a No. 1 ranked up-and-coming-tech hotspot, a “top 10 best place to live on a $60,000 salary” and was named America’s No. 2 Best Small City by Resonance Consultancy. The region is a top-five “most remarkable waterfronts in the U.S.” and is home to more than 30 communities and nearly 1 million people.

About the Greater Omaha Chamber

The mission of the Greater Omaha Chamber is to champion a thriving business community and a prosperous region through visionary leadership and collaboration.

**NOTE: Ideon is the company formerly known as Vericred. Vericred began operating as Ideon on May 18, 2022.**

Aquiline Technology Growth-led funding round and board additions to fuel rapid staff expansion and product development.

Benefits infrastructure leader extends its position as industry standard for health and supplemental insurance connectivity, efficiency. 

NEW YORK, April 12, 2021 — Vericred, the innovative data services platform powering digital quote-to-card experiences in health insurance and benefits, today announced the completion of a Series B round of funding totaling $23 million and the addition of two new members to its board of directors. Aquiline Technology Growth led the oversubscribed funding round, which included participation from new investors Echo Health Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Guardian Strategic Ventures, and existing investors Riverside Acceleration Capital, FCA Venture Partners and First Health Capital Partners. 

Vericred will use the new capital to expand its teams in New York, NY and Omaha, NE, further build its marketing and sales functions, and exponentially grow the community of participants on its market-leading platform, laying the foundation for a united, digitally connected benefits ecosystem. 

“Today’s announcement showcases the market’s clear endorsement of Vericred’s critical innovations in health insurance and employee benefits. We are proud to have attracted the highest caliber of venture and strategic investors, surpassing the goals we initially set out for this fundraise,” said Michael W. Levin, CEO and Co-founder of Vericred. “We are excited to partner with these leading investors who share our vision for building a simplified way for all participants in the benefits ecosystem to connect, communicate, and exchange data rapidly and accurately.”

Vericred offers a full suite of APIs across medical, life, dental, vision and other lines of coverage that power quoting, enrollment, member management, and renewals on multi-carrier InsurTech and BenTech platforms. Vericred’s solutions simplify the complex process of exchanging data with multiple partners. By effectively removing a critical barrier to industry-wide digital transformation, Vericred enables a true digital quote-to-card experience. 

More than 300 carriers, including industry leaders Cigna, Guardian, Humana, MetLife, Principal, Kaiser and 100+ InsurTech companies including Rippling, Gusto, Ease, and Namely have joined Vericred’s platform, creating a powerful network effect and establishing an important channel to bring new products and innovation to market. 

In connection with this funding round, Vericred welcomes two additions to its board of directors: 

Max Chee leads Aquiline Technology Growth (ATG), which is managed by Aquiline Capital Partners, and seeks to invest in early and growth stage FinTech companies. Max brings over 20 years of experience investing in FinTech and enterprise software. 

Jessica Zeaske, PhD is a Partner at Echo Health Ventures, identifying and investing in emerging and growth-stage health care companies. Previously, she invested with GE Ventures and Lemhi Ventures and has a career-long focus on thesis-driven investing.

“Aquiline’s investment in Vericred is rooted in our shared vision of a fully digitally connected employee benefits ecosystem, where plan quoting, enrollment, and renewal is a seamless experience, much like booking travel or applying for a new credit card online,” said Chee. “We’re pleased to add Vericred as a portfolio company, as we view its infrastructure offerings for benefit administration platforms, along with their carrier partners, as a catalyst for the digital transformation of the industry.”

“At Echo Health Ventures, we seek to drive systemic transformations of the health care system through hands-on, purpose-driven investing. Vericred is an ideal investment aligned with that vision and we look forward to partnering with them as they scale their platform” said Zeaske. “As a Board member, I am excited to help Vericred as they continue to modernize the way health insurance and employee benefits are quoted, sold, enrolled, managed, and used.”

About Vericred

Vericred is the way health insurance carriers and employee benefits providers connect with new technology partners to deliver seamless quote-to-card consumer experiences. We are not the websites or apps you use to choose a plan or find a doctor. We are infrastructure. We are the ‘pipes’ that simplify the complex exchange of quoting, enrollment and eligibility data between carriers and the technology partners responsible for delivering health and employee benefits to hundreds of millions of Americans everyday. Our APIs transmit billions of data points between InsurTech and insurance carriers, powering digital distribution across the insurance industry. Come join the community of insurance geeks creating a seamless digital quote-to-card experience. Visit www.vericred.com. 

About Aquiline Technology Growth

Aquiline Technology Growth (ATG) seeks to invest in early- and growth-stage technology companies that are bringing innovation to the insurance and financial services ecosystems. ATG is managed by Aquiline Capital Partners, a private investment firm based in New York and London investing in businesses globally across the financial services and technology sector. The ATG team has experience in technology and financial services and is supported by its colleagues at Aquiline, strategic partners, and an active group of industry Executive Advisors. For more information on ATG, visit: www.aquiline.com.

About Echo Health Ventures

Echo Health Ventures drives systemic health care transformation through hands-on, purpose-driven strategic venture capital and growth equity investing. Echo brings together USAble Corporation, Cambia Health Solutions and Mosaic Health Solutions to accelerate health care innovation on a national scale and support meaningful health care impact. For more information, please visit www.echohealthventures.com.

**NOTE: Ideon is the company formerly known as Vericred. Vericred began operating as Ideon on May 18, 2022.**

Industry-first API enables InsurTech platforms to quote level funded group medical plans across multiple carriers

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vericred, a data services company simplifying the exchange of information between health insurance and employee benefit carriers and InsurTech companies, today announced the immediate availability of level-funded plans through its Group Rating API. With this new functionality, Vericred is facilitating the distribution and quoting of these attractive alternatives to fully insured group plans.

Until now, level-funded plans have been quoted through carrier websites and broker portals, or through complex integrations with carrier APIs. As a result, it has been difficult for InsurTech applications serving brokers to offer multi-carrier level-funded quoting, thereby limiting visibility of these plans to the detriment of carriers, brokers and employers. Through this enhancement to its Group Rating API, Vericred is making it easy for these tech companies to quote and compare level-funded plans across carriers, and even against fully insured medical plans.

“Level-funded plans are rapidly increasing in popularity, with some brokers expecting more than 50 percent of their small group book of business to migrate to level-funded products over the next two years,” said Vericred CEO Michael W. Levin. “Our new API supports this exponential growth by enabling tech platforms to build carrier-agnostic, level-funded quoting solutions for brokers and employers. And for our carrier partners, this is a cost-effective pathway to achieve visibility for level-funded products across the quoting tools brokers are using today.”

Vericred is debuting this new functionality with two carrier launch partners: AllSavers, a UnitedHealthcare subsidiary, and Humana, and expects to add level-funded plans from additional national and regional carriers and TPAs over the coming months. Initially, the rating API will deliver “illustrative” or street quotes, which are subject to underwriting and approval. Later this year, Vericred intends to further expand its capability to underwritten quotes.

“Humana has invested significantly in its digital initiatives. Working with Vericred leverages those investments by making it even easier for our distribution partners to quote and enroll in Humana products. As such, we are thrilled that level funded group plans are now on the Vericred platform for quoting,” said Gary Davis, Humana National Leader – General Agents, Digital Initiatives, & Small Business Sales.

Sponsoring health insurance for employees has become a significant cost burden for businesses, with average annual premiums for single coverage ballooning from $4,824 in 2010 to $7,188 in 2019, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) study. Level-funded plans, which package the cost savings and personalization of self-funding with the fixed-payment structure and risk mitigation of fully-insured plans, are an increasingly popular benefits option for employers struggling to address the rising cost of health insurance. The percentage of covered workers at small firms (3-199 employees) who were enrolled in a level-funded plan increased from 6 percent in 2018 to 11 percent in 2019, KFF reported.

About Vericred
Vericred simplifies the exchange of data between carriers and technology companies that are transforming the way health insurance and employee benefits are quoted, sold, enrolled and managed. Vericred offers robust solutions for technology companies and carriers focused on the employer market, as well as the under 65 individual, Medicaid and Medicare markets.

**NOTE: Ideon is the company formerly known as Vericred. Vericred began operating as Ideon on May 18, 2022.**

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vericred, a data services platform delivering digital infrastructure for the distribution and fulfillment of health insurance and employee benefits, today announced the launch of its HRA Development Kit, a suite of APIs enabling InsurTech and HRtech companies to build solutions that empower businesses to take advantage of new Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) rules.

As the only data platform partnered with hundreds of health insurance carriers serving both the group and individual markets, Vericred is uniquely positioned to help tech companies, and their customers, capitalize on changes to HRA regulations, which, beginning in January 2020, are expected to transition millions of employees from traditional, employer-managed group health insurance plans to individual market plans.

Vericred’s HRA Development Kit includes the following data solutions: Group and Individual Rating APIs, which provide technology platforms with a means to generate quotes in both markets from hundreds of health insurance carriers, thus enabling brokers and employers to evaluate the cost differences between group and individual health plans, and ultimately to enable employees to shop for individual insurance plans; Group to Individual Disruption Analysis, which empowers brokers and employers to examine how shifting employees from traditional group plans to individual market plans would impact in-network access to their favored providers; and Shop by Doctor and Shop by Drug, enabling employees to shop for individual insurance plans based on their preferred doctors and prescription drug requirements. Together, these solutions power decision support tools that inform employers, directly and through their brokers, as to whether ICHRAs are the right solution for their companies.

“Equipped with Vericred’s data solutions, our customers — online insurance marketplaces, quoting systems, BenAdmin and HR platforms — can ease brokers, employers and employees through this complex and evolving ICHRA landscape,” said Michael W. Levin, Vericred’s co-founder and CEO. “Beyond offering employees health plan transportability and expanding plan choice, these new regulations offer tech platforms an exciting opportunity to scale their solutions for the individual market. Vericred is positioned to mitigate the time and expense that would otherwise be required to build and maintain such functionality.”

HRAs are a type of employer-sponsored benefits arrangement in which businesses reimburse their employees a set, tax-free amount for eligible health insurance expenses, such as monthly premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket medical costs. In June 2019, the Trump administration finalized new HRA rules that, starting next year, will permit employers of any size to allocate a fixed amount for their employees to purchase health plans on the individual market, including the healthcare.gov website, state-based exchanges, and InsurTech platforms.

The size of the individual market, according to White House estimates, is projected to expand by 50 percent, thereby creating a mandate for InsurTech companies that are currently focused on the group market to offer individual plans as well. By supporting solutions for both plan types, InsurTechs can seamlessly migrate users from group plans to individual plans, therefore retaining customers who would otherwise be forced to shop elsewhere.

For more information on how Vericred can help your platform take advantage of this new HRA environment, please contact sales@vericred.com.

About Vericred

Vericred (www.vericred.com) is building infrastructure for the digital distribution of health insurance and employee benefits. The Vericred Platform serves as a data translation layer between insurance carriers and technology companies that are transforming the way health insurance and employee benefits are quoted, sold, enrolled and managed. Vericred offers robust solutions for technology companies focused on the under 65 individual, Medicaid and Medicare markets, as well as the group market. For more information visit www.vericred.com or interact with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

**NOTE: Ideon is the company formerly known as Vericred. Vericred began operating as Ideon on May 18, 2022.**

Empowering users to quickly and dynamically analyze what percentage of employees would be affected by switching networks

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vericred, a data services platform powering the digital distribution of health insurance and employee benefits, announced today the immediate availability of its Disruption Analysis API. Vericred’s new API enables InsurTech companies to build decision support tools that help their users — primarily brokers and employers — assess what percentage of an employee population would be affected, positively or adversely, by switching health or dental insurance networks.

Disruption analysis, traditionally, has been a complex process through which employers and insurance brokers evaluate how the transition to a different group health insurance (or dental) network would impact employees’ in-network access to their most important doctors, health systems and hospitals. Analyzing plans in this manner has rarely been accessible within the small group environment, as it was typically a high-cost and inefficient process.

Vericred’s latest API, however, empowers InsurTech companies — which include online insurance marketplaces and quoting platforms — to build user-facing solutions that make disruption analysis far more streamlined and automated. Rather than having to build and maintain the underlying data and logic themselves, InsurTechs can leverage Vericred’s API to develop these features, easily and within an accelerated timeline.

“Traditionally, it’s been expensive, time-consuming and labor-intensive for brokers and employers to examine how switching to a new insurance plan would disrupt members’ in-network access to their preferred doctors and dentists,” said Michael W. Levin, Vericred’s co-founder and CEO. “Using our new Disruption Analysis API, InsurTech companies can effortlessly bring to their customers features that are imperative in today’s complex insurance market.”

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2018 Employer Health Benefits Survey, 61 percent of employers offering health benefits had shopped for a new health plan during the past year, with 25 percent of those businesses choosing to change carriers. Further, it is likely that more businesses will reconsider their options in 2020 and beyond, as the Trump Administration’s new policy on HRAs will afford employers another alternative to traditional group plans. As open enrollment approaches, companies will require disruption analysis and other support tools to best analyze how switching group plans, or transitioning from a group plan to the individual market, would impact their employees’ in-network access to providers.

The Disruption Analysis API — which includes all major medical and dental networks — joins Overlap Analysis and Shop-by-Doctor as the third component of Vericred’s suite of provider-network solutions.

For more information, please contact sales@vericred.com.

About Vericred

Vericred (www.vericred.com) is building infrastructure for the digital distribution of health insurance and employee benefits. The Vericred Platform serves as a data translation layer between insurance carriers and technology companies that are transforming the way health insurance and employee benefits are quoted, sold, enrolled and managed. Vericred offers robust solutions for technology companies focused on the under 65 individual, Medicaid and Medicare markets, as well as the group market. For more information visit www.vericred.com or interact with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.