New Health Reform Survey Finds Business As Usual for Employers in 2013
Many taking a wait and see approach regarding impact of
Affordable Care Act
on health and pharmacy benefits
Media
Contact: Cary Conway
CHICAGO - Employers say it
will be business as usual in their approaches to health benefits, as they plan
for new developments in the coming year due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA),
according to a new survey by the non-profit Midwest
Business Group on Health (MBGH) in collaboration with The Benfield Group. The survey polled
employers around the country to gather information on their strategic thinking
in planning for 2013-2018 to prepare and position their organizations for
complying with the ACA now that it’s been upheld by the Supreme
Court.
“Given the focus on health care and
the economy in the presidential election, we conducted this survey to help our
employer members benchmark and better understand their options for offering
health coverage,” said Larry Boress, MBGH president and CEO. “After 2013, the
majority of employers responded that they will be adjusting to the ‘new normal,’
making changes to their benefit design strategy in response to the post-ACA
environment. The majority plan to continue to offer benefits.”
Key survey
findings
- In preparation for the 2018 40% excise
tax on high cost “Cadillac” plans, 31% of employers indicated they plan to
reduce their benefits in 2014-2016, with 41% responding they will do so for
2017-2018
- Only 9% of employers indicated that they
planned to participate in state health insurance exchanges when they begin in
2014-2016. While there is interest in private health insurance exchanges, at
this time only 4% believe they will use these for active employee coverage in
2014-2016, while 11% indicated they will move toward private exchanges for
post-65 retirees.
- For the next few years, there is little
indication that employers plan to drop health care coverage and provide
employees a set amount to buy health care coverage elsewhere.
- Employers responded that 57% currently
offer consumer directed health plans (CDHP), such as health savings accounts
and health reimbursement accounts, as a plan option and indicated that this
would increase to 62% in 2013 and 71% through 2018. All large employers
indicated they will offer CDHPs by 2018. More than a quarter (29%) of all
employers will make their CDHP offering their only plan available to employees
by 2018.
- More than half (52%) of employers plan
to make vision and/or dental coverage voluntary benefits in 2013, increasing
to 55% by 2017-2018.
Note to editors: The survey findings are
available to accredited media upon request.
“Employers still believe that health benefits are vital to attract
talented employees and maintain a productive workforce,” says Scott Thompson,
President Healthcare Practice, The Benfield Group. “This research found that
most employers, especially those with more than 200 employees, will not drop
employee benefit coverage in the foreseeable future. Instead, they’ll control
costs in other ways like implementing CDHPs, basing premium contributions on the
number of dependents covered (unit pricing) and reducing benefits to avoid the
Cadillac tax. Employers will continue to be active purchasers of health
care.”
Survey Details
The
online survey was conducted in August 2012 on employers’ views on health reform.
There were approximately 111 respondents from across the U.S. in a variety of
industries representing self-insured (77%) and fully-insured (23%) employers.
The respondents ranged in size from large employers (29% with more than 5,000
employees), to mid-size (38% with 1,001 to 5,000), to smaller (33% with less
than 1,000).
About The Benfield Group
The Benfield
Group is a health care market research, strategy and communications firm founded
in 1989. The organization helps health care companies focus on employers as key
customers, to help them develop and implement effective employer strategies. The
Benfield Group also provides strategic communications support for employers to
help them gain executive and cross-organizational support for human capital
improvement strategies. www.benfield.com
About the Midwest Business Group on Health
Celebrating more than 30 years of advancing value in health benefits
management, the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) is one of the
nation's leading business groups of private and public employers. MBGH's more
than 100 members represent over 3 million lives, spending more than $3 billion
on health care benefits annually. www.mbgh.org