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 TBR News:
Companies are Weighing in on Health Reform
February 2017






While the majority of U.S. citizens have health insurance, premiums are rising and the quality of the insurance policies is falling.
  • Average annual premiums for family coverage increased 11% annually between 1999-2005, but have since leveled off to increase 5% per year between 2005-2015.
  • Deductibles are rising even faster. Between 2010-2015, single coverage deductibles have risen 67%.
Several months ago, the Employer-Based Health Plans Working Group, (which is part of the National Association of Health Underwriter's Legislative Council), conducted a survey of employers across the country asking for their perspectives of Health Care and Health Reform.
Here's what employers are saying about their employee health insurance
  • 94% offer health insurance currently
  • 33% are applicable large employers
  • 85% offer health plans that are fully insured
  • 71% of employees participate in traditional health plans (HMO, PPO, POS, EPO)
  • 28% of employees participate in high-deductible health plans with or without an HSA
  • Only 23% of employers say their highest concentration of employee enrollment is in plans with deductibles less than $1,000
  • 27% with deductibles between $1,000 - $2,000 
  • 25% with deductibles between $2,001 - $3,000
  • 15% with deductibles between $3,001- $4,999
  • 10%with deductibles of $5,000 or more
     
  • 40% say deductibles have increased more than $1,000 in the past 5 years (27% say $500-$1,000)
  • 29% say deductibles will increase in the next 5 years by more than $1,000 (35% say $500-$1,000)
  • 84% of large employers purchased software, expanded the services provided by their payroll company, or purchased additional services from vendors in order to comply with the 6055 and 6056 reporting requirements
  • 42% are spending $1,000 - $5,000 
  • 20% are spending $5,000 - $25,000 
   to assist them in complying with the reporting requirements
How do employers feel about health insurance today and in the future
  • Employers are angry and frustrated with high costs and the administrative burden required by the ACA
  • Due to the additional costs of coverage and complying with the requirements of the ACA, employers will continue to push more cost to employees or stop offering health insurance
  • Employers expect high rate increases each year for the next 3-5 years
  • Individuals and businesses pay more for less coverage and lower levels of care (counter to everything ACA was supposed to accomplish)
  • Employers believe major changes need to be made to avoid all the negative effects of the ACA and its mandates
What do employers think?
What the survey found is that employers are spending more time on compliance and more dollars on offering and administering employee health benefits.
 
Employers want:
  • Insurance to be affordable for individuals and small businesses
  • Lower rates
  • Fewer regulations
  • More consistency
  • Figure out how to contain costs 
  • Control the cost of care, including the price of prescriptions
How does the US Healthcare Compare Internationally?
  • Despite the relatively high level of health expenditure, in the U.S., there are fewer physicians per capita than in most other OECD countries.
  • In the U.S., there are only about 1.2 primary care physicians per 1,000 people. Projections indicate that the U.S. will need 52,000 more primary care physicians by 2025 to meet demand.
  • There is significant disparity within the United States for physicians. Massachusetts has the highest physician/patient ratio with 349.5 active doctors per 100,000 people, while Mississippi has only 170.3, the country average is 225.6.
  • In 2013, the U.S. infant mortality rate was 5.96 per 1,000 live births, while the OECD median was 3.8.
  • The obesity rate among adults in the U.S. was 35.3% in 2013, down slightly from 36.5 in 2011. This is the highest rate among OECD countries. The average for the OECD countries was 19.0% in 2013.
Note: OECD stands for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 35 countries belong with the goal of working together to share experiences and find solutions to common problems.

For more information on the above update 
and to read previous newsletter topics, please visit our website at:


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This update is a publication of TBR Associates, designed to highlight employee benefit matters of interest to our readers.  The information contained in this publication is meant for general educational purposes only.