Firms remain puzzled on health care

Much of the chatter over the federal health care law among businesses deals with the now, but a recent survey discovered a new wrinkle: Only 25% of human resources and other top executives for companies nationwide believe their firm will offer heath care coverage for employees in 10 years, according to Towers Watson.

The New York City-based global professional services firm says that figure is an all-time survey low.

The decade-out projection doesn't mean businesses aren't doing anything this year in regards to a health care coverage strategy for employees. More than half, 57% of the respondents, are currently recalibrating their employee health benefits program, the survey shows. Nearly 2 out of 10, 18%, have already done that.

The projected increase in cost drives the potential changes, Towers Watson says. For example, total health care costs per employee, which includes employer costs and employee contributions, are projected to reach $12,535 this year, a 5% increase from $11,938 last year.

The survey also probed two other facets of the health care reform bill — private and public health insurance exchanges and employer contributions for dependents, spouses and partners.

On the first aspect, the survey says employers have “considerably more interest and confidence in private exchanges.” More than two-thirds, 67%, agree to a moderate or great extent that private health exchanges will provide a viable option for active employees by 2015. “Employers that no longer want to offer employer-sponsored health care benefits could send their employees to a public exchange,” the survey states, “although we should note that employer confidence in public exchanges remains relatively low at this time.”

Executives, on the other side, mostly consider employer-paid contributions for dependents a place to save money, the survey shows. One-fourth of companies polled implemented a spousal surcharge of about $100 per month when other coverage is available to the spouse. And nearly half of the respondents, 49%, say their firms have increased employee contributions for dependent tiers at higher rates than for individuals. Another 19% expect to take that step in 2015, the survey reports.