Employers wont be making any major changes to their health benefits plans in 2015.
Just 1% of plan sponsors are planning to eliminate benefits next year, according to the SHRM/EBRI 2014 Health Benefits Survey, which interviewed 3,300 plan sponsors.
While wellness programs continue to gain popularity among employers, few are moving to tiered networks, private exchanges, value-based designs and reference pricing. We found that very few employers plan to make major changes at least for now and most seem to be moving toward adoption of wellness programs, says Paul Fronstin, director of EBRIs health research and education.
- 26.3% plan to add wellness rewards or penalties
- 3.6% plan to add tiered networks
- 3.2% plan to move to a private exchange
- 2.6% plan to adopt a value-based design
- 0.6% plan to adopt reference pricing
Fifteen percent of plan sponsors expect one of their plans will trigger a Cadillac tax with PPOs being the most likely culprit.
- 74.3% say PPOs will trigger the tax
- 18.5% say their HMO will trigger the tax
- 17.3% say their POS will trigger the tax
- 7.6% say their CDHP will trigger the tax
- 4.8% say their EPO will trigger the tax
A large percentage of plan sponsors dont have a plan for avoiding the Cadillac tax.
- 29.4% dont have a plan to avoid the tax
- 16.5% will change plans
- 10.6% will reduce coverage
- 9.4% will increase employee contributions
- 4.7% will introduce a high-deductible plan
- 3.5% will move to a private exchange
- 3.5% will eliminate their plan
- 4.7% plan to do nothing
Eligibility is expected to remain steady next year.
- 7.9% will eliminate coverage for spouses who are eligible for health insurance through their own employer
- 6.7% will add a spousal surcharge
- 1.3% will eliminate coverage for part-time employees
- 1% will eliminate coverage altogether
