Questions about new developments in voluntary benefits have sparked a larger discussion about the delivery of employee benefits — now and in the future.

Peter Marcia, CEO of YouDecide.com Inc., an Atlanta-based company that designs and administers voluntary benefits plans and discount programs, described how the company is “aggregating all the benefits in one portal, so it's one single destination for all things voluntary.”

The result, he said, is a better benefit experience for employees and simplified benefit administration for employers.

Some mid-market employers already are taking advantage of that shopping mall-like concept, where employees simply log on, peruse their options and enroll online or access available discounts.

“Midsized employers want to offer the benefits that their larger counterparts (and) competitors are offering; they're competing for the same talent, so we see a lot of demand from midsized groups who don't necessarily have the internal resources to do some of these things on their own,” said Chris Hill, founder and CEO of Spotlite, a Chicago-based provider of benefits distribution and enrollment, and sister company PerkSpot, an online provider of voluntary benefits and employee perks.

Rich Reda, executive vice president at Lockton Cos. L.L.C. in Kansas City, Mo., agreed that benefits aggregators provide valuable technical and administrative support, but he maintained that employees also need the human touch to explain why they might need such insurance.

YouDecide, whose clients are mostly Fortune 1000 employers, anticipates expanding services to a more mid-market clients as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health insurance exchanges alter the benefits-buying landscape.

The thinking goes that once the exchanges are in place, some employers will shift to more of a defined contribution approach, benefits expert say. But how many, and how quickly they will act, is yet to be seen.

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Mr. Marcia, for one, expects many employers to provide a single benefits spending account and let employees purchase “what they want, need and love.”

Will employees continue to buy voluntary benefits through the workplace or through some sort of exchange?

“What we don't know about the exchanges right now is how voluntary insurance plans are going to play a role, how available they're going to be on those exchanges (and) to what degree the insurance companies are going to provide discounted pricing (and underwriting with no or few health questions),” Mr. Reda said.

Exchanges don't have the kind of affinity with employees that an employer does, and he said he doubts insurers “are going to be real excited” about offering voluntary insurance programs to individuals when they're not part of a group, he said.