Healthcare reform cost increases expected

Findings by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) show that both employers and workers say they are not very knowledgeable about health reform, but that employers say they are likely to pass along any health benefit cost increases to workers-and, mostly, workers are expecting such cost increases.

Specifically, more than 40% of employers say they are likely to pass along cost increases to workers, and about half of workers expect their health benefit costs to go up whether directly or indirectly related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA), the EBRI report finds. But a majority of both employers and workers indicate they are not very knowledgeable about the new law.

The findings come from the 2010 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey (CEHCS), with additional data from the 2010 SHRM Organizations’ Response to Health Care Reform poll by the Society for Human Resource Management.

The report also found that 31% of workers with private insurance expect their healthcare coverage to decline and 34% expect their benefits to be unchanged. As for the future of employment-based health coverage, 32% of workers think their employer is likely to continue offering health benefits after 2014, and another 23% think their employer is very likely to continue offering employment-based health plans.

Very few employers have decided to drop healthcare coverage, according to the report. Less than 1% have conducted an analysis and decided to drop coverage, and less than 1% have decided to drop coverage without conducting an analysis.