Covenant Health

The largest hospital operator in East Tennessee provides all of its full-time employees with free health care at its hospitals, whether they are having a baby or heart surgery.

But as health care reform legislation mandates new requirements, Covenant Health CEO Tony Spezia said it may have to consider a new approach, such as outsourcing some tasks like housekeeping to an outside company that may offer a lesser benefit than Covenant. It also raises a lot of questions, he said, about whether employers are allowed, or required, to provide such benefits to part-time or contract employees which might mean limiting hours for some employees.

Spezia said Covenant's health benefits are a huge recruiting and retention tool.

"It's a big benefit. No co-pays, no deductibles, no nothing. We want our employees to stay here," Spezia said.

Spezia said that because so much of the law is unclear, it's impossible to know yet how it will affect large employers that traditionally have provided good health benefits.

ORNL Federal Credit Union

"My issue with the Affordable Care Act is, rather than focusing on the people that needed coverage and providing coverage, they focused more or as much on the people that had coverage and the companies that were providing coverage and created tons of rules around that," he said. About 70 percent of the Oak Ridge-based credit union's 500 employees take advantage of health care coverage offered.

"We want to be the employer of choice. It would be difficult to tout that if you didn't offer a benefits package," Compensation and Benefits Manager Amy Vichich said.

But with new fees being assessed because of health care reform, ORNL Federal Credit Union has been evaluating ways to offset increased costs, including a look at its health benefits plan.

Originally posted here:

Health care reform: A look at what area companies provide