Employers may be looking to encourage workers to purchase their own health insurance coverage
Employers in the U.S. may opt to pay their employees to purchase health insurance coverage. The Affordable Care Act has made insurance plans more accessible to a wide range of consumers through the establishment of insurance exchanges in every state. These exchanges exist as online marketplaces where people can find the insurance coverage they are interested in. Industry analysts suggest that the majority of those who currently receive insurance coverage from their jobs will move on to find better coverage through exchanges and this trend may be heavily encouraged by employers.
Affordable Care Act provisions may have an effect on how employers opt to provide insurance coverage to their employees
According to the health care reform law, employers with 50 or more workers on staff must offer these employees with health insurance benefits. Failure to do so would result in a $2,000 fine per worker, potentially placing the employer under significant financial pressure. This fine will begin to be issued in 2015 and it may end up having a major impact on employer-sponsored insurance coverage.
Private insurance exchanges may soon become the tool of choice to provide insurance coverage to employees
Analysts predict that many employers will begin offering their workers upfront payments that would be used to pay for health insurance policies. Employees would be encouraged to find policies through state health insurance exchanges. Employers may also take steps to embrace private insurance exchanges, which were established several years ago as a way for businesses to transfer retiring employees from company insurance plans to Medicare.
Employees would use money provided by their jobs to purchase coverage through private exchanges
Usually, when employers select a private insurance exchange for their employees, they provide their workers with a certain dollar amount. This money is used to shop for health insurance policies that are being offered by the insurers that are participating in the exchange. Employers have the ability to control the policies that their employees have access to, since they are still technically sponsoring group coverage. The money that employees receive, however, cannot be taxed as income.
