While opponents of health reform work round the clock to get the controversial bill tossed out, companies are left wondering how to react. Here’s what your peers are doing.
In a nutshell, employers will continue to offer coverage, gradually lose their grandfathered status and further educate management on the finer points of the law.
That’s the word from a recent study by Towers Watson.
The study found that a full 94% of companies have no plans to terminate their health plans. That contradicts earlier studies, which found that a large number of companies were planning to drop their health coverage due to the increase in costs the reform law would cause.
However, many companies plan to lose their plans’ grandfathered status moving forward – because they don’t feel there’s enough of a return in keeping it.
The study found that 55% plan to lose their status by 2011, and 85% plan to do so by 2013.
When it comes to communication, 81% of companies have already educated senior management on implementing reform changes, and 17% of companies plan to it this year.