Aon Hewitt may have a hit on its hands with its private insurance exchange.
The company, which launched its exchange just this year, reports that 18 employers have signed up to purchase coverage for workers.
The private exchanges are the private-sector response to the mandated public insurance exchanges created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The public exchanges will start reviewing requests for coverage Oct. 1, if all goes as planned in the next 10 days. Private exchanges were free to open up any time, and Aon Hewitt went live this year.
It fairly quickly attracted three clients — its own parent company, Sears Holding Corp. and Fla.-based restaurant chain Darden Restaurants.