Though only a portion of the employer mandate is in effect under the Affordable Care Act, the legislation that requires many business owners to provide coverage to their full-time workers, the health reform law has already had an effect on company management. But not in a good way, according to the results of a newly released survey.
More than 50 percent of employers in a recent poll said that the ACA has had a negative impact on their company, based on findings from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Additionally, approximately 9 in 10 respondents said that they anticipate their health costs growing more expensive in the remainder of 2014, some of which may be passed on to their employees via more expensive premiums and/or deductibles.
Michael Wilson, CEO of the IFEBP, pointed out that employers are providing firsthand experience about what the repercussions of the ACA have been like, even though much of the health law won't go into effect until 2015 for some companies.
"Employers are taking a variety of actions to mitigate costs and in most cases are sharing the cost impact with their workforce," said Wilson.
Employees paying more for coverage
More specifically, the poll found that 33 percent of employers have had to increase what their workers need to pay out-of-pocket when getting or receiving medical treatment or services, according to the IFEBP. This rate also includes those who've had to increase how much salary employees need to contribute in order to pay for premiums and/or in-network deductibles.
Higher copayments have also been more prevalent. Roughly 20 percent said that these costs have increased for primary care physicians.
The most expensive health costs may have yet to arrive, a notion that many business owners appear to agree with. Some 40 percent of employers indicated they foresee their health costs rising more appreciably in 2015, the year in which large business will need to offer employee benefits to workers.
Julie Stich, director of research at the IFEBP, said that the news hasn't been all bad when it comes to the ACA and how it's affected business owners.
"Many employers have taken action to increase awareness and communicate with their employees about ACA, which has resulted in greater participant engagement with their health care benefits," said Stich. "In addition, most employers will continue to provide health care benefits in order to retain current staff, attract future talent, and maintain or increase employee well-being."
Companies made cutbacks early on
Leading up to the rollout period of the ACA, which was in October and ended in March, many business owners prepared for anticipated economic effects of the health care law. In a separate poll performed by Research Now, close to one-third of employers eliminated or delayed pay raises, 22 percent cut back on benefits and more than 1 in 5 switched some full-time workers to part-time.
The choices that employees had for health policies were also scaled back, as 14 percent said that they reduced the number of major medical plan options workers had to choose from, the poll found.
