Benefits quarterly
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The Affordable Care Act's "Cadillac tax" on high-cost group health care plans begins in 2018, yet its expected impact on employers remains an open question. Clarifying regulations, guidance and potential statutory changes between now and then will determine whether employers find the tax to be even more of an administrative burden than a financial one. This article discusses the top five open issues about the application of the tax and its administrative requirements, encouraging employers to use caution in making strategic decisions in advance of clarifying regulations and potential statutory changes.
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While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) focused largely on improving access to health care coverage for the uninsured, its broader and longer-term influence may have been its impact on accelerating key trends and strategies that major employers and other stakeholders have been targeting for years. This article looks at some of these trends, where we were pre-ACA and how ACA (through benefit mandates, shared responsibility penalties, Cadillac plan tax, health information technology, accountable care organizations, etc.) has helped to accelerate and refocus efforts. In addition, the public exchange paradigm has given rise to a private exchange movement that is helping further accelerate the transformation of the New Health Economy.
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Since their introduction following World War II, single-payer health care systems and universally mandated health care systems have stumbled, but in their pratfalls are many lessons that apply to the universal health care proposals currently on the table in the United States. The critical and often-over-looked point is that universal coverage does not guarantee that individuals will receive needed care--In many cases guaranteed access to care is a false promise or available only on a delayed timetable. A more feasible alternative lies in providing a safety net for citizens who truly need care and financial support with an appropriate system of checks and balances--without disrupting the economic and actuarial fundamental principles of supply and demand and risk classification.
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Many employers have begun moving toward health care consumerism strategies designed to encourage employees to take more responsibility for their health care and the cost of that care. Recent surveys suggest ways employers can ensure their consumerism strategies succeed in engaging employees and, ultimately, encourage employees to change their behavior. This article describes what those surveys reveal about employer and employee perspectives on consumerism and suggests steps employers can take to align their interests with those of their employees in order to manage the demand for and use of health care.