Nearly half of employers are planning to rethink their long-term health care strategy next year, according to a recent Towers Watson survey. The findings also suggest that many employers are skeptical about how the health insurance Exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will impact organizations.
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Get Your Report Now!The survey found that a nearly 90 percent of survey respondents are planning to take cost-reduction measures in response to increases in health care costs. However, most plan on continuing to offer health care benefit coverage to active employees through 2014.
On the other hand, just over half (54 percent) of employers that offer health care benefits plans to retirees plan to discontinue them by 2014.
A majority of employers (73 percent) are planning to increase employees’ share-of-premium contributions for dependent coverage, while another 66 percent will increase them for employees with single-only coverage.
The findings also reveal that employers have mixed views on how state-base health insurance exchanges will affect the workplace. Seventy percent of respondents said they are skeptical that the Exchanges will offer a viable alternative to employer-sponsored coverage in 2014-2015. In addition, over half (56 percent) believe that the Exchanges will bring about the excise tax by 2018.
Source:
Towers Watson