By Matt Dunning, Crain News Service
WASHINGTON (Feb. 19, 2013) — Most employers' reported experiences regarding the financial impact of the healthcare reform act appear to be based largely on perception rather than measurable data, according to a new Willis Global Holdings P.L.C. survey.
While 50 percent of employers polled in Willis' "Healthcare Reform Survey 2012-2013" think the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has not had any effect on their healthcare costs for active employees, 57 percent believed their company's contributions toward the cost of single and dependent coverage has been similarly unaffected by the reform law.
However, the survey revealed that only 20 percent of employers polled have actually identified specific costs tied to compliance with the reform law. Another 24 percent said they were in the process of identifying specific compliance costs.
Among those two groups of employers, more than 60 percent said complying with the healthcare reform law has led to an increase in their total healthcare costs. The specific provisions of the law most frequently cited as cost drivers were the extension of adult child coverage up to age 26, preventative care requirements, and the elimination of annual and lifetime limits on essential health benefits.
According to the survey's authors, the results suggest that a majority of employers could be relying on inaccurate or speculative information in assessing the reform law's financial effect on their health benefits costs.
This report appeared in Business Insurance magazine, a Chicago-based sister publication of Tire Business.