“Health Care Reform Five Years In,” a survey of nearly 600 employers conducted in February by Mercer, showed essentially no change between 2014 and 2015 in the average percentage of all employees — full-time and part-time — enrolled in employer-sponsored health plans. There was a 1.6 percent increase in the absolute number of employees enrolled. However, that was due to a 2.2 percent increase in the size of the workforce, rather than the changes required by the PPACA.
“Employers that had to offer coverage to more employees were braced for a bump in enrollment this year, but they didn’t know how big it would be,” Tracy Watts, a senior partner and leader for health reform at Mercer, said in a news release. “While some did see increases, for the most part it seems the newly eligible either had coverage through a parent’s or spouse’s plan or through Medicaid — or are continuing to go bare.”
Mercer found that the PPACA rules did not have a bigger impact because of various factors. For instance, most respondents — 81 percent — were already in compliance with the eligibility requirement prior to 2015. And while 18 percent of all respondents (and 31 percent of those with 5,000 or more employees) believe that more employees chose coverage than in past years due to the individual mandate, 7 percent of all respondents (and 14 percent of those with 5,000 or more employees) believe some former enrollees now waive coverage because they are eligible for expanded Medicaid, according to the release. Additionally, some employers cut back on hours of at least some employees who consistently worked 30 or more hours per week so they did not become eligible for coverage.
More articles on healthcare finance:
Politics surrounding the permanent ‘doc fix’ debate: 10 key points
MedPAC issues March report to Congress: 10 key Medicare issues
House leaders in talks over $200B Medicare deal
