In Washington, when they want to get a read on what employers are thinking about health reform, they call employers…AND they call Lockton Benefit Group experts. Multiple times since the health reform law passed in 2010, Lockton executives have testified, and late in May 2012 compliance attorneys/Health Reform Advisory Practice leaders Ed Fensolt, J.D. and Mark Holloway, J.D. headed back to D.C.
Testifying before the House subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, Fensholt told the group that the reform law’s additional coverage mandates had added at least 2-3 percent to most clients’ health plans thus far, and that additional mandates due to come online in 2014 would add to those costs. Fensholt also noted that employers buying fully-insured coverage could expect to see cost increases of $10-15 per employee per month beginning in 2014 on account of tens of billions of dollars in excise taxes imposed on health insurers and drug and medical device manufacturers, as a means of paying for a portion of the cost of the health reform law.
Fensholt’s testimony was balanced. He pointed out that some aspects of the reform law are of significant benefit to employers, such as the medical loss ratio rules (requiring some insurers to rebate a portion of premium costs) and the additional leverage employers receive for imposing premium surcharges on employees who decline to embrace healthy lifestyle changes.
Click to read a transcript of the testimony. Pictured above are Ed Fensholt, J.D. and Mark Holloway, J.D.