l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 As controversy continues to brew over the validity of a McKinsey survey
finding 30% of respondents would likely drop employee health care coverage
in the years following the implementation of health reform’s state
exchanges, a survey on the same topic from Lockton reveals a more
conservative estimate: nearly one in five employers (18%) say they will
consider terminating group coverage.
Overall, 80% of employers responding to Lockton Benefit Group's May 2011
Lockton Employer Health Reform Survey are concerned or very concerned about
the potential impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Most
plan sponsors express frustration that the law makes health plan
administration even more difficult. The law "created a lot of administrative
burdens to employers,” notes one survey respondent. It has “confused
employees and increased cost substantially.”
The results confirm the sentiment Lockton associates have been hearing from
clients for months, “that many of them are very, very apprehensive about
the reform law's mandates,” says Edward Fensholt, director of Lockton’s
Compliance Services Division and a member of the firm's Health Reform
Advisory Practice. “From CFOs to human resource managers, the comments were
generally consistent — they know there is a lot of extra work and
additional expense ahead.”
Even so, the survey finds several reasons the majority of respondents plan
to retain employee health plans:
To use the health plan as an attraction and retention tool (86%)
Concern that employees would have to pay more in the exchanges to
replace employer coverage (30%)
Desire to avoid paying a penalty to the exchanges (26%)
Lockton clients also identified the top potential benefits of PPACA, such as
the increase in wellness incentives (37%), access to the exchanges for part
-time employees (31%) and retirees under age 65 (23%), as well as the option
to terminate coverage knowing employees will have another option in the
exchanges (16%).
Meanwhile, McKinsey stands by its survey results , saying its poll of
private sector employers was not meant to be a predictive analysis but
rather a measurement of employer attitudes toward health reform. |
|
