Healthcare prices are rising within the U.S. In 2023, the common premium for household protection was almost $24,000 per 12 months, a 47% improve from 2013, in accordance with KFF.

Sounder Advantages goals to deal with this drawback. The corporate launched final week with $7.5 million in funding and was constructed at Redesign Well being, an innovation platform.

The Boise, Idaho-based firm targets employers with lower than 1,000 staff. It pairs AI-driven insights with strategic advantages advisory companies to assist employers design their well being profit plans. The corporate helps employers create a three-year profit roadmap and helps them in transitioning to level-funded and self-funded plans (which frequently present extra financial savings). It additionally affords help for human sources groups year-round. 

Leveraging worker well being knowledge, Sounder Advantages additionally identifies when staff have a specific well being want, like most cancers help, after which directs them to the answer they want, like most cancers care firm Jasper Well being. For every specialty, Sounder Advantages selects one or two firms to contract with and offers Sounder’s prospects entry to these options.

“We would like to have the ability to establish that member on the time that they’ve a problem as a result of that’s after they’re most receptive to intervention,” stated Brian Ancell, CEO and co-founder of Sounder Advantages, in an interview. “By connecting with them at the moment, we get them straight right into a program that advantages their wants. After all, it’s all the time the members in cost. The member will get to determine. It’s their expertise. We’re merely making it less complicated and simpler for them to have the most effective expertise.”

Sounder Advantages receives income for its companies on a per-member-per-month foundation. It’s licensed to function in all 50 states. Whereas it formally launched final week, the corporate had already been available in the market testing its product for about 90 days, Ancell stated.

There are a number of different firms that help employers with their well being advantages, comparable to Quantum Well being and Accolade. Nevertheless, many firms within the area are primarily targeted on bigger employers. Whereas Ancell didn’t title these firms as rivals, he stated Sounder Advantages differentiates itself from others within the area by serving small and mid-sized employers.

“Everybody desires to focus on the large firms and assist them … however these mid-sized firms will not be getting that spotlight, and for an worker that works for an beneath 1,000-life firm, their typical deductible is 65% greater than for a big firm. So taking that $24,000 [family premium], it’s not even shopping for that a lot protection for folk in these beneath 1,000-life firms. We see that as a major unmet want in that market.”

Sounder Advantages has $7.5 million in seed funding in partnership with Redesign Well being. Ancell stated the corporate plans to make use of the funding for 3 principal areas: constructing out its government management group and advisory group, investing in its know-how and figuring out new companions (together with well being tech options, care navigators, care suppliers and danger administration firms).

Finally, Sounder Advantages goals to provide mid-sized employers “the experience like they’d have at a Fortune 50 firm,” Ancell stated.

Photograph: Nuthawut Somsuk, Getty Photos