Could Solution Providers Push Employees To Private Exchanges?

Solution providers facing rising health-care benefits costs are searching for ways to soften the blow, and at least one who spoke with CRN said he's waiting to see if companies will begin to push employees to health-care exchanges.

Others say that's not likely, if only because the number of companies willing to take the plunge may be very small.

Dan DiSano, CEO of New York-based solution provider Axispoint, said solution providers are considering just about everything when it comes to managing health-care costs, but he doubts pushing employees to exchanges is an option for many.

There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that it could mean the death knell of a company's reputation. No company wants to be the one that stopped offering health-care benefits and told employees they were on their own negotiating their state exchange system.

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

Two, federal officials have caught on to this workaround, and new provisions of Obamacare slated to go into effect next year would fine companies for diverting employees to state exchanges.

Still, experts predict that moving workers into private exchanges, where employers give workers money to pay for an insurance plan, could be a popular and fast-growing option over the next few years.

Last year, IBM and Time Warner made headlines by moving their retirees into private health exchanges, and experts predicted that enrollments of active workers in private exchanges could explode to 40 million by 2018.

"It may depend on the size of your company and affordability," DiSano said. "Every year, we have to get creative with our health-care providers and the plans they offer."

This article originally appeared as an exclusive on the CRN Tech News App for iOS and Windows 8.