July 26, 2010

Employers Have Unfavorable View of Healthcare Reform Legislation/Sixty-five Percent (65%) Have Unfavorable Impression, 88% Expect Higher Costs

July 26, 2010 Atlanta, GA –Healthcare Reform’s implications for employers are obviously a hot topic now. It’s one that Strategic Benefits Solutions (SBS), an Alpharetta based employee benefits firm addressed in a Boot Camp entitled Healthcare Reform, The Bottom Line this Wednesday, July 21st at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead.

More than 100 executives representing 73 different companies, accounting for 37,000 employees and a total of 72,000 covered lives were in attendance to learn how the recently passed legislation would affect their companies and benefit plans. During the morning seminar, a real time poll was conducted to gauge their impressions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA).

Not surprisingly, the group of CEOs, CFOs and HR executives are pretty pessimistic that the new law will help their companies, with 88% expecting higher costs and 65% having an unfavorable impression. Despite their unfavorable view of the law, only 46% feel that repeal efforts have a chance of succeeding.

If you believe this group, employers won’t be the only ones paying, as 83% reported they’d be forced to share the additional cost to their employees in the form of increased contributions. “At the same time, SBS is encouraged that these executives recognize the value of proactive programs to address population health as the most promising way to control future costs increases,” said Guy Morrison, President of Strategic Benefit Solutions. “We’ve been doing seminars on how effective wellness programs can be used to mitigate healthcare cost increases by encouraging healthy habits in the workforce for years. It was encouraging to hear that 62% of the audience felt their CEOs were ready to require employee participation in significant health enhancement programs to obtain benefit eligibility,” he continued.

The seminar featured a keynote presentation by Peter J. Marathas, partner at Proskauer, Boston MA, where he gave a preview of what to expect, based on the experience in Massachusetts. “The bottom line is that the law will increase the cost to cover employees. That’s what we’ve seen in Massachusetts and what we expect across the country as we read the legislation,” commented Marathas. “This group seems pretty well prepared, at least intellectually, for what’s to come.”

Marathas also detailed some of the specifics of the act including the requirements for qualifying as a grandfathered plan, and coverage for dependents through age 26, among others. After hearing some of the details, only 41% of the participants said they expected to try to retain grandfathered status for their current plans.

The complete results of the audience poll are available at http://www.sbs-benefits.com/bootcampPresentation .

About Strategic Benefit Solutions (SBS)
SBS is a health and welfare benefits brokerage and consulting firm founded by industry experts. They believe that using the right strategies can drive costs out of employee benefits, while still delivering superior packages to employees and their families. This helps both fully and self funded organizations with 50 to 10,000 employees attract and retain high caliber talent. To learn more about SBS and their full array of services, visit www.sbs-benefits.com.