Well being care prices are rising within the U.S. In 2023, the typical premium for household protection can be almost $24,000 per yr, a 47% enhance from 2013, KFF mentioned.

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

The Boise, Idaho-based firm focuses on employers with fewer than 1,000 staff. It combines AI-driven insights with strategic advantages advisory providers to assist employers design their well being plans. The corporate helps employers create a three-year advantages plan and helps them transition to evenly funded and self-funded plans (which frequently provide better financial savings). It additionally offers year-round help to HR groups.

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

“We would like to have the ability to establish that member on the level the place they’ve an issue, as a result of that's once they're most receptive to intervention,” Brian Ancell, CEO and co-founder of Sounder Advantages, mentioned in an interview. “By connecting with them at that time, we will get them immediately right into a program that meets their wants. After all, it's all the time the member who's in cost. The member will get to determine. It's their expertise. We're simply making it easier and simpler for them to have one of the best expertise.”

Sounder Advantages receives income for its providers on a per-member-per-month foundation. It’s licensed to function in all 50 states. Though it formally launched final week, the corporate has been in the marketplace for about 90 days testing its product, Ancell mentioned.

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

“Everyone needs to go after the massive firms and assist them out … however these mid-sized firms don’t get that spotlight, and for an worker who works for an organization with lower than 1,000 years of life, the standard deductible is 65% greater than it’s for a big firm. So in case you take that $24,000, [family premium]it's not even that it's shopping for that a lot protection for individuals in these companies with lower than 1,000 lifespans. We see that as a big unmet want in that market.”

Sounder Advantages has raised $7.5 million in seed funding in partnership with Redesign Well being. Ancell mentioned the corporate plans to make use of the funding in three essential areas: constructing out its govt management and advisory groups, investing in its expertise and figuring out new companions (together with well being tech options, care navigators, suppliers and danger administration companies).

Finally, Sounder Advantages needs to offer mid-sized employers “with the experience they’d have at a Fortune 50 firm,” Ancell mentioned.

Photograph: Nuthawut Somsuk, Getty Photographs