The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called the Affordable Care Act represents some of the most far-reaching government overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since 1965 when Medicare and Medicaid came into being. It will be phased in over time, but a number of changes have been delayed and won’t be in effect until 2015.
The act focuses on increasing the rate of health insurance coverage for American and reducing health care costs. Here’s what some area businesses have on their minds about health care reform as the time nears for the full impact of the ACA:
Jorge Titinger
president and CEO
Silicon Graphics International Corp.
How is your company preparing for changes associated with health care reform?
In early spring, ABD, our insurance broker, provided us with a Health Care Reform analysis based on our current benefits and plan costs. This allowed us to assess whether SGI met the minimum criteria within the “Pay or Play Mandate.” In addition, we were able to evaluate the impact of eliminating benefits which took into account forfeited tax deductions, exchange penalties, competitiveness in the marketplace, and disruption to our valued employees. Our broker also provided analysis of any possible 2018 excise taxes based on the premium costs of our current plans.
Have you studied or instituted wellness programs to contain health care costs for your employees?
We have implemented basic wellness programs at this time on an ad hoc basis. In the past year, we have provided programs around stress management, nutrition, weight control, health coaching, and many others. We have evaluated implementing a wellness program which will be tied to contributions and employee activities for 2015.
Due to health care reform what other things are you doing specifically to contain health care costs for your employees?
In 2010, we implemented a HDHP/HRA employer funded alongside a PPO program. This model has allowed the employee to realize the true cost of health care and make more informed decisions in regards to health care choices. Our strategy is to further incent employees to migrate from the traditional PPO into the HDHP/HRA program.
Do you foresee having employees pay a larger share of company-offered health care coverage?
We do see contributions being raised primarily for the higher-cost, traditional PPO plan, which would in turn incent the employees to migrate to the lower cost HDHP/HRA program. In the long term this would lead to lower health care cost for SGI. In addition, we will be considering a defined contribution scenario, so employees can choose the programs which fit both their benefit needs and budget.
Joy Chen
CEO
Yes To Inc.
How is your company preparing for changes associated with health care reform?
As a small company, we have to manage our overhead and have done a few things from a wellness and cost management standpoint. However, we have always done that even before health care reform.
Have you studied or instituted wellness programs to contain health care costs for your employees?
We are a pretty healthy and young group. We provide lunch and breakfast for our office and our meals have started to be even healthier with lots of fruits and vegetables. For Christmas this year, we are going to offer “healthier you” type of gifts (gym memberships, etc.).
Due to the Affordable Care Act what other things are you doing specifically to contain health care costs for your employees?
We are now bidding out out health care each year to manage our costs. We bid it out to a third party in order to manage the company’s and employees’ costs down.
Do you foresee having employees pay a larger share of company-offered health care coverage?
We have not done that, and bidding it out annually is our way of preventing the costs from going up for our employees.
Dave Michelson
President and CEO
National Interstate
How is your company preparing for changes associated with health care reform?
National Interstate typically reviews all our benefit programs on an annual basis. The enactment of health care reform has not materially changed that process; it has simply added another layer of compliance-related items that we must be mindful of. Our primary goal of providing benefit programs to meet the needs of our employees and their families remains unchanged.
Have to studied or instituted wellness programs to contain health care costs for your employees?
Over the last several years, National Interstate has implemented a variety of wellness programs primarily in response to our employees including initiatives such as an onsite flu shot clinic, monthly newsletter, health fairs including screenings and wellness vendors, as well as lunch and learn speakers. There is no question employees have greater access to information and resources promoting healthy lifestyles than ever before. For an employer, it can often be difficult to quantify the results of individual employees reaching their health goal. It may simply mean that employee was able to attend a son or daughter’s soccer game. Those kinds of results are important in addition to focusing on healthcare cost containment.
What other things are you doing specifically to contain health care costs for your employees?
We believe educating employees about the plan they participate in is a key factor in containing health care costs. Most medical plans have discounts and incentives already built into the plan design, yet many times employees don’t fully utilize these features. We work in conjunction with our health care provider to disseminate information to employees so they can make informed health care decisions.
Do you foresee having employees pay a larger share of company-offered health care coverage?
It is impossible to predict what the future holds in terms of health care costs. What we do know is if our employees collectively work as a team, we have the best chance of minimizing health care costs for our organization. While we make health care choices as individuals, the impact of those choices from a rate perspective is felt amongst the group participating in the plan.
Anthony McBride
Principal, human resources
Edward Jones
How is your company preparing for changes associated with health care reform?
We have been making changes to eligibility and benefit levels as required by the regulations since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. We have made required modifications to our group medical plan to ensure that it meets the guidelines for 2014. We will continue to closely monitoring the regulations so that we are prepared to meet future requirements of the law.
Have you studied or instituted wellness programs to contain health care costs for your employees?
We have had a wellness program in place for several years, and anticipate it will help contain cost increases in the future by motivating our plan members to be aware of and gradually improve their health over time.
Due to health care reform what other things are you doing specifically to contain health care costs for your employees?
By 2009, we had moved to a consumer-driven health plan model. Our plan includes some pharmacy and medical treatment programs that help direct members to lower cost, higher quality sources of care. Soon we’ll introduce online cost/quality transparency tools to help raise awareness of the disparate cost spread that can exist even within an approved provider network.
Do you foresee having employees pay a larger share of company-offered health care coverage?
While we do not plan to shift a greater proportion of the cost to associates in 2014, the overall costs for health care continue to rise. In this regard, we have added a surcharge to cover spouses who have their own employer-based coverage available. We cannot speculate on what may happen in the future because the health care landscape is undergoing so much fluctuation.
