Employee benefits serve as the main way in which people in the U.S.. receive health insurance, and there's nothing to suggest that workplaces will begin to offer these plans with less frequency now or several days into the future, according to new survey data.
Close to 80 percent of employers in a recent poll said that they pay either some or all of the premium price for their workers' benefits, BenefitsPro reported, based on a study done by worldwide research organization LIMRA. Additionally, 90 percent of organizations said that they needed to make medical coverage an option available to staff in order to retain them and attract other workers.
When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law, one of the provisions of it required that large employers – or those that employ at least 50 workers – offer health benefits to all full-time workers, or those who work at least 30 hours per week. This mandate has been postponed, however, until 2016.
Speaking of the ACA, few believe that the reform law will make health care better off as a result. The "Employee Benefits at a Crossroads" report found that more than 50 percent of businesses believed it would wind up having more of a negative effect on their ability to offer benefits in the future.
Americans themselves are largely opposed to the health law as well. In a separate poll performed by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, slightly more than 1 in 10 – 13 percent – said that their health insurance situation was in a better position now than it was 12 months ago. What may be contributing to that is cost. By a 4 to 1 margin, more respondents said that they were paying more for their coverage today than they were one year ago.
