Employers and human resource professionals looking to get ahead of the benefits and health care reform game should take a note of a new free survey in the works by McGraw Wentworth.
The Troy, Mich Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company has begun its 11th annual Southeast Michigan Mid-Market Group Benefits Survey to see how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been received by the industry.
From now and to April 4, the benefits consulting and brokerage firm will be accepting responses to the study from employers and human resource employees. The findings, which will be used to assist with 2015 employee health care benefit planning, will likely be released in June, according to a firm spokesperson.
“The ACA has had a profound impact on employer-provided health care and more changes are still to come,” says Rebecca McLaughlan, managing director, McGraw Wentworth.
Expectations point to more than 550 southeast Michigan organizations participating in the survey. The new study will examine:
- How Michigan organizations tailored their plans to ACA requirements
- Discover if “pay or play” employer penalties drove/or will drive plan modifications.
- The impact of defined contribution plans, private exchanges and public marketplaces.
- Track PPO, HMO and consumer driven-health plans deductibles and co-pays.
Previously, according to its 10th annual study, McGraw Wentworth featured responses from more than 440 southeast Michigan-based organizations with 100-10,000 employees.
At the time, midsize employers said that health care costs were rising at an average of 4%, a dip from the 6% average fielded in 2012, the May 2013 survey stated.
“Employers are using strategies such as wellness, consumer driven health plans, spousal and tobacco use surcharges, and prescription cost management to control their costs,” McLaughlan explained last spring.
