In a survey of 791 employers, Mercer also found about two-fifths of employers predicted the reforms would increase costs by 2 percent or less next year, and 3 percent said they were already in compliance and wouldn’t see a cost increase due to reforms.
For the past five years, companies’ healthcare coverage costs have been rising 6 percent a year, which can be seen as their “threshold of pain,” a Mercer consultant said.
Mercer’s survey also showed the excise tax on high-cost plans, which starts in 2018, was at the top of the employers’ concerns about the new law, and retailers were worried about the cost of expanding coverage to more part-timers.
Read Mercer’s release on healthcare reform.
