NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Segal Consulting recently conducted a study of multiemployer client health plans to learn what changes they have made in the five years since the Affordable Care Act became law. A new issue of Data highlights the study’s key findings, which include the following:
- More than half of plans in the study of multiemployer health plans remain grandfathered under the ACA, meaning they do not have to comply with some parts of the law.
- A large majority of plans in the study have not changed coverage for spouses. Most plans in the study have maintained coverage for retirees.
- The three most popular cost-management strategies that plans have implemented are soliciting competitive bids from carriers/vendors, implementing more intensive pharmacy management programs and increasing copayments.
“The study suggests plan sponsors have additional options and opportunities for managing the high cost of health care beyond increasing participant cost sharing, because relatively few plans have implemented strategies such as including financial incentives tied to wellness, moving to a narrower network or establishing an on-site clinic,” commented Andrew Sherman, senior vice president at Segal. He added, “The Supreme Court affirmed with its King v. Burwell decision that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay, which means it is also time for trustees to take a look at how their plans are impacted by the 2018 excise tax.”
To read the full study, please click here.
Segal Consulting (www.segalco.com), a member of The Segal Group, is a leading, independent firm of benefit, compensation and human resources consultants. Segal is headquartered in New York and has nearly 1,000 employees throughout the U.S. and in Canada. Clients include corporations, non-profit organizations, professional service firms, state and local governments and joint boards of trustees administering pension and health and welfare plans under the Taft-Hartley Act. On October 15, 2014, The Segal Group celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding by Martin E. Segal (http://www.segalco.com/about-us/#anniversary).
