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Category Archives: Health Care Insurance
Vinson Declares PPACA Unconstitutional
Vinson, a judge in the U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Fla., says in a ruling on State of Florida et al. vs. United States Department of Health and Human Services et al. (Case Number 3:2010-cv-00091-RV), that Congress has no authority under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution to enforce the “minimum essential coverage provision” in PPACA.
The PPACA minimum coverage provision would require individuals to buy health coverage. If the provision takes effect as enacted, it will require many people with incomes above a certain level who do not get health coverage from their employers to buy a minimum level of health coverage or else pay a penalty. The provision, set to take effect in 2014, provides exceptions for individuals with religious objections to owning health coverage and for some individuals who cannot find affordable health coverage.
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PPACA: Willis Measures Employer Gloom
About 59% of the employers that participated in the Willis-Diamond survey said they probably will continue to offer health benefits in 2014, but 12% said they are somewhat or very likely to shut down their health plans and encourage employees to buy coverage through the exchange system.
Some survey participants said they believe Affordable Care Act provisions could lead to positive changes: 26% said they expect the act to increase employee health consciousness.
Many more participants — 88% — said they think the act will increase
Fast facts on consumer-driven health plans
The nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute sums up what is known about CDHPs and examines trends in offer rates and enrollment. It also looks at differences in premiums between CDHPs and other types of insurance, and discusses the drivers of the premium differences:
The report is in the August 2010 EBRI Issue Brief, available online at www.ebri.org.
Among the key points:
* Offer rates: Surveys show that employers offering a CDHP increased from less than 5 percent in 2005 to between 12 percent to 15 percent by 2009.
Growth in offer rates can be seen across all firm sizes. Recently, the percentage of small firms offering a CDHP has declined, while larger firms have continued to add a CDHP as an option.
* Enrollment: Overall, 19.1 million, or 11 percent of individuals with private health insurance, were enrolled in a CDHP in 2009.
* Premiums: Generally, premiums for CDHPs were lower than premiums for non-CDHPs. Growth in premiums varies both by type of plan and over time.
* Explaining differences in premiums: A number of studies have tried to explain the differences in premiums between CDHPs and non-CDHPs. One found savings ranged from a high of 15.5 percent to a low of –4.7 percent, with average savings of 4.8 percent.
However, the study found that most of the savings was due to younger, healthier workers choosing CDHPs and concluded that once typical risk- and benefit-adjustment factors were taken into account, CDHPs saved only 1.5 percent.
There is strong evidence that, initially, CDHP enrollees will be healthier than non-CDHP enrollees, but that over time the CDHP population has a significantly higher illness burden.
* Impact of CDHPs on preventive services: The studies agree that use of preventive services did not change (upward or downward) as a result of the CDHP.
* Impact of CDHPs on medication adherence: The studies found that overall use of brand name prescription drugs fell among CDHP enrollees, and, while there was some offset from increased use of generic drugs, some enrollees stopped their use of prescription drugs. CDHP enrollees increased their use of the mail-order pharmacy option. Overall use of prescription drugs among CDHP enrollees with certain chronic conditions fell, or did not increase when enrollees met their deductible. One study found that the financial incentives of the plan are not sufficient in driving behavior, and that educational outreach also matters.
Posted in Health Care Insurance
Tagged CDHPs, EBRI Issue Brief, Employee Benefit Research Institute
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Health Care Reform: Preventive Services Interim Final Rules Released
On July 14, 2010, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury released final interim rules implementing the preventive health services provisions under the Affordable Care Act. Read this alert to learn more about the new rules. Continue reading
Report: Costs of PPACA exceed previous estimates
Two integral provisions of the health care reform legislation, “dependent eligibility” and “affordability,” will likely result in much higher health care costs for employers than previously estimated by government officials and other industry consultants, according to a new report.
The bswift Special Report on the Impact of Health Reform on Employers analyzes the 2010 benefits premium, contribution and dependent data of 242 bswift client organizations. The sample includes mid-sized and large employers with 50 to 15,000 employees representing a variety of industries, including retail, manufacturing and professional services.
“The bswift Special Report highlights the dramatic differences in impact of PPACA among employers. For some, the impact is negligible. For many others, PPACA may increase costs substantially for 2011 and may also require a complete overhaul of the organization’s health strategies in the next three years,” says bswift CEO Rich Gallun. Continue reading
