Though the vast majority of business owners who offer employee benefits to their workers intend to continue doing so both now and in the future, they may not be given to policyholders the same way over the course of time, according to newly released polling data.
Roughly 95 percent of employers indicated that health insurance benefits would remain in place at their workplace for the next three to five years, risk management firm Aon Hewitt found. At the same time, though, approximately 40 percent said that they would slowly move to a delivery system that was focused on "house money" or "house rules," whereby the business itself is more intricately involved in the establishing of how the plans are governed. Meanwhile, approximately one-third said they'd utilize the state- or federal-based exchanges.
"Employers remain committed to providing health benefits, but recognize the need for new approaches that fix those problems," said Jim Winkler, chief innovation officer at Aon.
John Grosso, who heads Aon's retiree health care task force, noted that entrepreneurs may be holding back on utilizing the exchanges because they want them to be better performing before making the switch.
"This movement will be slow and methodical, as the public marketplaces evolve and as employers understand the implications of the 2018 excise tax, which will only impact group-based health insurance plans," said Grosso.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has had many unintended consequences on the private sector, mainly because business owners tend not to be in favor of it. For example, nearly half of respondents to a National Small Business Administration poll said they were intentionally not tinkering with their workforce numbers because they were worried about how it would adversely affect them as it relates to the health care reform law.
