10 Jul IFEBP survey: More than 75% of sectors will provide health coverage in 2014

By Marli D. Riggs
July 2, 2012
Source: https://eba.benefitnews.com

Despite the differing reactions among U.S. business sectors to last week’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Supreme Court ruling, 77% of surveyed organizations are very likely to provide health coverage in 2014, according to a recent survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans.Following the Supreme Court’s decision, almost half (49%) of the organizations are shifting their attention to wellness, while 32% are focusing on consumer-driven health plans, 27% will shift costs to employees and 26% will focus on value-based health care, according to The Supreme Court ACA Decision Reaction Survey.

“We’re not surprised by these findings since our recent wellness survey told us that seven in 10 U.S. employers offer wellness programs,” says Paul Hackleman, IFEBP’s health care and public employer analyst.

Overall, the results were split when respondents identified which Supreme Court decision would have been most beneficial to their organization.  The data showed that 46% felt the best possible decision for their organization would have been PPACA being thrown out, while 41% said the best decision was the law being upheld. Another 12% of organizations would have liked the individual mandate overturned, but the remainder of the health care law to stay intact.

Most organizations have been keeping current with the legislative aspects of PPACA and some are already prepared for provisions in the future. Of the respondents 78% are extremely or very far along in terms of complying with current PPACA provisions, while 60% are extremely or very far along with preparing for future provisions.

Further, organizations in states that have already implemented health care exchanges are generally more satisfied with the Court’s decision (47% to 35% of respondents in states that haven’t implemented), and are more prepared with current provisions (47% to 36%) and more likely to continue coverage in 2014 (56% to 42%).

The survey was administered on June 28 to measure organizations’ reactions to the landmark decision. Responses were received from 1,122 plan administrators, trustees and organizational representatives.