Why Your Health Insurance Benefits May Be Shrinking
The trend is accelerating. The percentage of employers revising their plans as a result of the [Cadillac] tax has increased to 17 percent this year from 11 percent in 2011, according to a survey of United States companies released this month by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
Although the tax does not start until 2018, employers say they have to start now to meet the deadline and they are doing whatever they can to bring down the cost of their plans. Under the law, an employer or health insurer offering a plan that costs more than $10,200 for an individual and $27,500 for a family would typically pay a 40 percent excise tax on the amount exceeding the threshold. (NYT)
I do not look forward to wait and see what happens in the next few years because I know benefits will continue to “reduce” as employers find ways to reduce their expenses.
At the end of the day, those who work hard and have a job and depend on employer benefits will be the ones shafted by all of this. Sad.
“The reality is it is going to hit more and more people over time, at least as currently written in law, ” he said. Mr. Herring estimated that as many as 75 percent of plans could be affected by the tax over the next decade — unless employers manage to significantly rein in their costs.”
Inflation bites
I wonder if the $10,200 figure applies to small business plans as well as large company plans. It would be a greater hardship on a small company with age-banded insurance rates, if the company employs older workers.
Looks like deductibles in general will increase. But that means employees will be more cost conscious when shopping for healthcare.
@Baker
Yes that could happen, but it also will burden those employees with more cost. Tradeoffs happen.
Employers will try to cut back anyway they can considering the costly mandates on health insurance.
eventually we’ll “need” more government to fix this.
It’s ironic, now that every one will be getting access to this, we are getting less out of our insurance. One would assume that health insurance companies are all over this.
If you don’t pay with your money, you pay with your time, but in this case, you pay with crappy health insurance.
So, according to Obamacare and this administration, less coverage = better coverage?