NBGH Employer Survey: Large Employers Preparing for ACA Implementation

Half of the 82 large companies surveyed by the National Business Group on Health said they had eliminated annual benefit limits in their offerings for the 2013 plan year, although a third said they hadn’t made changes to their limits yet. The most likely benefits to be limited, according to the survey, are services for mental health, substance abuse and rehabilitation. Most businesses reported that they wouldn’t have any health plans that fall short of the law’s requirements but would be eligible to be grandfathered.

Efforts to comply with the Affordable Care Act come as a majority of businesses surveyed said they planned to ask their workers for higher premiums — although most said they’d keep increases to less than 5 percent — and more than a third said they intended to increase deductibles and out-of-pocket limits. At the same time, half of the businesses surveyed said they’d offer their workers financial incentives to quit smoking, lower cholesterol or lead healthier lifestyles. The median level of financial incentives is slated to jump to $450 in the 2013 plan year from $300 this year.

The survey found that only 16 percent of the employers surveyed believe their full-time workers will join publicly subsidized health insurance exchanges expected to go online in 2014, though 35 percent said their part-time workers might get exchange coverage and 51 percent said their retirees would consider exchange coverage a viable option.

Although the law requires insurers who have high administrative costs to send rebate checks to companies and individuals, nearly half of those surveys said they weren’t sure what they’d do with the extra money. About 7 percent said they’d apply the rebates to future premium payments, while another 7 percent said they’d use the rebates to cover their own administrative costs.

NBGH members can access the full survey results here.