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President Bush Proposes Federal Health Care Reform:
President Bush has proposed a healthcare reform package that seeks to make healthcare more affordable by establishing a new standardized deduction for people who purchase health insurance either through their work place or on their own. The proposed plan could have a significant impact on employer provided coverage because it would do away with current tax provisions that shelter virtually all employer provided health benefits from taxation. Under the proposed program, any employer provided benefits would be considered compensation to the employee, but employees would receive a standard deduction of $7,500 if single and $15,000 for family coverage regardless of the actual cost of their insurance coverage.
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California
Governor Schwarzenegger
Proposes Healthcare Reform:
The cornerstone of the proposed system for California is a coverage mandate, whereby all Californian's would be required to have health insurance. The proposed plan includes insurance reform that will mandate guaranteed issue coverage and the plan sets forth significant investments in health and wellness promotion. Employers with 10 or more employees who do not provide coverage to their employees would be required to pay an "in lieu of" fee equal to 4% of payroll. Doctors and hospitals would pay a revenue tax of 2% and 4% respectively in order to help finance the program.
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Growing Popularity of the HSA:
Employers offering health savings account (HSA) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) options have more than doubled compared to 2005, according to findings from the 2006 Spencer Survey of Consumer-Driven Health Plans. Specifically,
employers offering an HSA has increased from 12% in 2005 to 28% in 2006. While HSA offerings have expanded significantly, the survey found that the average participation rate in HSAs by employees in companies offering these plans is only 3 percent.
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Online Contribution Data Table:
A new Department of Health and Human Services database and online tool has been created to help employers benchmark a broad range of benefit plan attributes by geography and industry. This tool can be used as a valuable information source to help in benchmarking initiatives.
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