Though the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has the word "affordable" in its description, few professionals that provide employee benefits believe that the cost of care will lower as a result of the health reform law. In fact, most believe the opposite will occur.
Approximately 6 in 10 senior level benefit decision makers said that they believe the cost of health care will increase "as a direct result" of the ACA, according to a new poll performed by Employee Benefit News.
Exchange use has been fairly limited among employees, particularly those that are private. The survey revealed that just 2 percent of respondents had chosen a private exchange for their workers. Additionally, roughly 1 in 4 decision makers said that they considered enrolling in one, but ultimately decided not to on further reflection.
Employee Benefit News also asked the approximately 265 industry professionals – which included chief financial officers, human resources executives and benefit managers – what their biggest challenges were. More than anything else, approximately two-thirds of respondents said the most substantial issue was educating employees about their benefits. Slightly more than one-quarter said it had to do with internal technology challenges and 18 percent said that managing plans was hard, particularly those that provided for services beyond medical, dental and vision.
The National Small Business Association recently conducted its own analysis on employee benefits. In order of importance, business owners cited the cost of plans as being the top consideration in determining how health insurance is purchased. This was followed by what benefits are included in a policy, deductibles, coverage, out-of-pocket expenses, administrative time required and overall complexity.
The employer mandate of the ACA, which requires that all employers offer insurance coverage to their workers if they have more than 50, has been postponed until 2016.
