By Matt Dunning, Crain News Service
WASHINGTON (Feb. 5, 2015) — Fewer than 20 percent of U.S. employers expect their group health benefit plans to suffer as a result of healthcare reform, according to a survey released Feb. 4.
Only 19 percent of benefit managers and 17 percent of C-suite (top senior-level) executives said they believe implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have an overall negative effect on the healthcare benefit plans they offer to their employees, according to Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA Inc.'s 2014 Employee Benefits Trends Survey.
Conversely, 41 percent of benefit managers and 47 percent of senior-level executives said they expect the reform law's overall effect on their companies' healthcare plans to be positive, while 40 percent of benefit managers and 37 percent of C-suite executives predicted the ACA's effects on their employees' health benefits will ultimately be neutral.