Health care reform will usher in a new era of how employers provide employee benefits. As they continue to look for ways to control costs and optimize employee benefit spend, they will increasingly look to their advisers for strategies to take advantage of the changing landscape. “Pay or play,” government subsidies, essential health benefits, public and private exchanges, Accountable Care Organizations, new funding strategies, and technologies that ensure efficiency and accuracy in benefit administration will replace the old approach of shopping an insurance plan once a year. This new approach starts with an understanding that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will do very little for most successful, professional businesses that provide attractive benefits to their employees and want to continue to do so.
