U.S. consumers are accustomed to purchasing almost anything online; and they expect choice, information and convenience when doing so. With the wide-scale adoption of a consumer-centric retail model across all industries, health insurers are being advised to get on the retail bandwagon. This slideshare and accompanying white paper discusses why the best path forward for health insurers is to deploy an e-commerce platform specifically designed to support all channels and all lines of business. Such a platform will ensure both front-end and back-end capabilities are addressed in a manner that is optimized for healthcare, and it should include search and decision support, personalization and upsell options for the consumer, as well systems integration, billing and payments, and extensive analytics and reporting for the insurer.