Corporate benefits executives have expressed serious concerns about many features of proposed healthcare reform and say there isn’t enough attention being paid to improving the quality and containing the costs of health care, according to an annual survey conducted by the law firm Miller & Chevalier and the American Benefits Council. The Corporate Health Care Policy Forecast Survey of 213 large-company executives also found nearly unanimously agreement that maintaining the federal framework of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is vital to continuing employer-sponsored coverage.
In addition, 82 percent of respondents said they want to maintain the current tax exclusion of employer-sponsored health benefits, and three-quarters said that their companies would immediately reduce or cease offering retiree health coverage if legislation were enacted that prevented employers from modifying retiree healthcare benefits in the future. Eighty-nine percent of respondents think employees would prefer to receive health insurance through employers even if similarly priced options were available through other sources. The executives identified reporting of quality outcomes and use of wellness or chronic care programs as the areas that could have the most positive impact on their workforce.
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