Benefits Pro study showing that more employers are looking to move certain benefits to voluntary.
It's interesting in the Wild, Wild West of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) how there are so many predictions about what will happen. One of those predictions was that voluntary group benefits would become more relevant. While some predictions have not materialized, a new study by Benefits Pro suggests this prediction is indeed coming to pass. The study showed that more employers are looking to make changes to their benefits plan today than they were two years ago. More than three in 10 are considering changes that head towards voluntary, and 17 percent are "very likely" or "likely" to slide certain benefits over to voluntary. The targets are vision coverage, dental insurance, disability insurance (both short-term and long-term) and life insurance. In addition to transitioning these existing benefits into voluntary, 14 percent of employers are "very likely" or "likely" to add new voluntary benefits over the next 12 to 18 months. | The difference in employers' answers to these questions between 2014 and 2012 is telling, and is explaining why 37% of group voluntary brokers report they are providing significantly more voluntary policies over the same time period. I don't think we are anywhere near out of the Wild, Wild West of the Affordable Care Act, so keep your seat belt on. We'll all be glad when we're dealing with a known rather than a constantly morphing law. As we navigate towards consumer-driven health care, making voluntary a key player only makes sense. The goal, after all, is to offer the best benefits package in the most cost efficient way to your employees. Source: Is PPACA pushing voluntary sales? | BenefitsPro 2/19/15, 3:36 PM http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/02/17/is-ppaca-pushing-voluntary-sales | BY GIL LOWERRE AND BONNIE BRAZZELL |