The White House made two major announcements regarding healthcare yesterday. First, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States” and then late last night it was announced that the CSR (cost-sharing reduction) payments from the government to insurance companies would cease immediately.
Tuesday afternoon Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that they would not vote on Graham-Cassidy, effectively ending the GOP’s hopes of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this year. Graham-Cassidy, which was thought to be a non-starter just a couple of months ago, picked up significant steam in the last few weeks as GOP lawmakers faced the reality of their time to repeal and replace the ACA running out. Time was short because the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that the current push to repeal and replace with a simple majority (a process called budget reconciliation) had to end with the current fiscal year on September 30. With this short window of time, Graham and Cassidy pushed hard to get their bill to the floor for a vote and GOP leadership worked with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to fast-track a score on the bill (a requirement under budget reconciliation).
It is no secret that healthcare costs are steadily increasing creating a significant burden for employers offering healthcare benefit plans. By analyzing claims data, we can uncover the trends that are driving these costs. Once we understand the data behind the costs, we can identify opportunities to respond and gain control.
When making decisions about your employer-sponsored healthcare benefits strategy, it is critical to compare your benefit plans to those offered by other employers of a similar size. Benefits benchmarking allows you to remain competitive from a talent acquisition perspective and can uncover opportunities for improvement in the midst of the chaotic healthcare landscape.
Each year, Scott Benefit Services, alongside a leading actuarial consulting firm, conducts a Mid-Market Benefits Benchmarking Survey to help guide employers as they make decisions about their employee benefit plans for the following year.
Results from the 2017 survey reveal several healthcare benefits trends including:
Around 1:30 a.m. on Friday morning, in a surprising vote, Senator John McCain walked to the dais of the Senate and uttered one word, “No.” There were gasps on the Senate floor as Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) had already voted against the skinny repeal bill that had appeared to be gaining traction with GOP Senators. The plan was not to pass that particular bill as law, but to find the lowest common denominator that could be agreed upon and continue to work with the House GOP in conference to find something that could replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).