Nationwide Offers Consumer-Directed Health Plan

NU Online News Service, Feb. 10, 3:20 p.m. – Nationwide Health Plans, a unit of Nationwide Financial Services, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, has introduced a new health plan designed for employers with 50 or more employees. The product, MyChoice Health Plan, is a consumer-directed plan sold by NHP in an alliance with Vested Health, a health plan provider in Charlotte, N.C.

Consumer-directed health plans, also known as defined-contribution health plans or health care reimbursement accounts (HRA), combine a high-deductible health insurance plan with an HRA for each employee. Employees can use the HRA to pay for qualified medical expenses.

NHP will underwrite and administer MyChoice, a high-deductible paid provider organization health plan. Vested Health will set up and administer the reimbursement account for employees. Employers determine how much they will put into each employee’s Vested Health account. Employees may use the account to pay for medical expenses not covered by the PPO plan.