The health care reform law has so far had little effect on the percentage of employees enrolled in employer-sponsored health care plans, according to a survey. <\/p>\n
The Mercer L.L.C. survey of nearly 600 employers found that on average 83% of employees eligible for coverage enrolled in plans this year, down from 84% in 2014. <\/p>\n
In addition, the percentage of employees both eligible and ineligible for coverage who enrolled in plans was unchanged at 74% in both 2014 and 2015, according to the survey, which was released Tuesday. <\/p>\n
That lack of enrollment growth is somewhat of a surprise given the stiff penalties that employers and employees face under the health care reform law if they do not, respectively, offer coverage or enroll in a plan. <\/p>\n
Employers with at least 100 employees that do not offer coverage in 2015 to at least 70% of full-time employees those working an average of 30 hours or more a week are liable for a $2,000 per employee penalty. In 2016, the penalty applies to employers with at least 50 employees and coverage has to be offered to at least 95% of employees. <\/p>\n
Employees not enrolled in a health care plan are liable in 2015 for a penalty of $325 or 2% of income, whichever is greater. <\/p>\n
Employers that had to offer coverage to more employees were braced for a bump in enrollment this year, Tracy Watts, a senior partner and national leader for health reform in Mercers Washington office said in a statement. <\/p>\n
One reason, Mercer believes, that employers did not see enrollment growth is that some employees opted out of coverage from their employers and instead enrolled in Medicaid. <\/p>\n
The health care reform law gave states funds to expand Medicaid to more lower-income individuals, and about two dozen states took advantage of that offer. <\/p>\n
According to the Mercer survey, 14% of respondents with 5,000 or more employees said they believe some employees who previously opted for coverage now waived it and instead enrolled in Medicaid. <\/p>\n
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Health care plan enrollments steady despite reform law<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The health care reform law has so far had little effect on the percentage of employees enrolled in employer-sponsored health care plans, according to a survey. The Mercer L.L.C. Continue reading