The current state of the health care system is one of the explanations for why many business executives aren't optimistic about their opportunities for growth in 2014 and beyond, according to recent polling data.
The survey, which was conducted by Financial Executives International, found that concerns about the cost of health care, the debt ceiling discussions in Washington, staffing and employment are some of the main factors contributing to executives' pessimism about what's in store for them from a financial and managerial perspective.
Marie Hollen, CEO and president of FEI, indicated that health care is a particularly sensitive topic, given that many CFOs experienced a 5 percent increase in costs in the past six months relating to employee benefit adjustments mandated by the health care law.
"New health care regulations are likely a major cause of U.S. CFOs' decreased optimism in their business prospects and the U.S. economy, as evidenced by the actions they are continuing to take to offset the costs related to the ACA," said Hollen. "Health care, along with the outcome of the debt ceiling, will undoubtedly continue to impact CFOs in the next few months, and will be pivotal to business expectations for 2014."
Additionally, the survey found that nearly six in 10 CFOs who responded to the poll anticipated having to increase the co-pay portion of their workers' health plans due to many of the new regulations of the Affordable Care Act that have already gone into effect.
Due to the essential benefits provision of the ACA – requiring all plans to meet minimum levels of coverage for individuals like maternity care, mental health and substance abuse services as well as chronic disease management – there have been a variety of predictions forecasting that more than 50 million people with employer-based coverage may be given cancelation notices by their insurers beginning as early as next year. Thus far, an estimated 5.6 million individual policies have been discontinued, according to some calculations.
