William Robertson, CEO of Gaithersburg, Md.-based Adventist HealthCare, urged employers in the Washington, D.C., region to hold onto their health plans, according to a Washington Business Journal report.
Enough companies have dropped their health coverage due to rising costs to make Mr. Robertson concerned. A study released in late August found more than one in five of U.S. employers (22 percent) plan to offer only high-deductible health plans to their employees in 2014 as a way to rein in the costs of providing health coverage. For instance, UPS recently announced it would cut spousal health benefits for spouses that have access to other health insurance.
Generally, company-sponsored plans subsidize losses hospitals might record elsewhere. If an employer were to abandon its health plan, this would shift more financial responsibility for healthcare services on the individual employee, and healthcare providers would be responsible for collecting those services rendered.
At a panel event, Mr. Robertson said each employer has "a huge role in making sure the healthcare system stays viable," according to the report. "If we as employers cease to create the employer-sponsored health plan coverage, it will have a horrific impact on the health care delivery system of the United States."
Hospitals are supposed to benefit from the law's attempts to get more patients insured. But Medicaid expansion and the insurance exchanges, the two primary ways of expanding coverage, are supposed to add people to the insurance rolls — not replace the employer group plans already in place.
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Employer-Sponsored Health Clinics: What Hospitals Risk if They Don't Get Involved
Employers Shifting Health Benefits to Private Exchanges
Will 2014 Bring the Decline of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance? Not likely.