To avoid elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) adversely affecting fully insured health plans, growing numbers of employers — especially smaller ones — are self-funding their plans.
“The problem is that everybody has been in a wait-and-see mode for two years, but now we’re starting to see the impact,” says Mark Haegele, director, sales and account management, at HealthLink. “I expect a lot of fully insured employers to make a change this year, mid-year. There are just so many compelling reasons to entertain it because self-funding policies still protect small employers and allow them to avoid many forthcoming taxes and rules.”
Smart Business spoke with Haegele about why the PPACA has prompted more employers to explore self-funding or partial self-funding.
How does medical loss ratio (MLR) reporting drive employers to self-funding?
Less service.
MLR reporting requires insurance companies to spend 80 or 85 percent — depending on their size — of premiums received on health care claims. Plan administration, such as overhead, payroll, sales efforts, network contracting, etc., comes from the remaining 15 to 20 percent.
MLR gives insurance companies an incentive to squeeze administrative services to make more profit. Some insurance companies have changed staffing and service models. One company had service people out to help with claim issues and problems for different segments — health insurance groups with two to 40 members, and 40 to 100 members. They recently bundled the segments into one, cutting staff and decreasing field service.
What will community rating rules do to health care costs?
Effective Jan. 1, 2014, insurers must comply with community rating factors based on geography, age, family composition and tobacco use. This means all fully insured small employers in an area or industry will pay the same for premiums. The idea is to get everybody to an affordable and stable price point, but many fully insured groups will be hit with big increases.
Here’s an example: in Missouri and Illinois, groups of fewer than 50 employees will be underwritten based on community rating rather than the specific group’s risk. A small, healthy employee group in Chicago can expect a 173 percent increase in 2014, according to the American Action Forum Survey of Insurance Companies. At the same time, a small Chicago group with older, less healthy members could have its premium decrease by 21 percent.
Under self-funding, healthy small groups are able to maintain rate stability based on the health of their own population.
How will the insurance tax affect health premiums for fully insured employers?
Starting in 2014, insurance carriers will be assessed a tax, projected to be $8 billion to $12 billion. The federal government will use this money to subsidize poor uninsured. However, insurance is a cost-plus business, so carriers will pass this on to employers. It’s still unclear how much the fully insured’s premium will increase as the tax is shared across the industry; it depends on your insurance company’s market share.
How will minimum essential benefits make self-funding more attractive?
Fully-insured plans sold in the small group market — fewer than 50 employees for Missouri and Illinois — will be required to limit annual deductibles to $2,000 for single coverage and $4,000 for family coverage, as of Jan. 1, 2014. This places upward pressure on premiums. If your current deductible is greater than $2,000, in order to decrease it premiums will go up because the insurance company faces more risk.
Also, for the past five years, many small employers’ deductibles have increased, which keeps premiums down, but employers haven’t passed it on. For example, because most members don’t use their deductibles, the employer could give employees a $1,000 deductible and use self-funding to cover the gap for the remaining $4,000 when the insurance company requires a $5,000 deductible to keep premium increases low.
Small employers could consider a self-funded platform in order to maintain their current deductible and keep rates stabilized.
Mark Haegele is a director, sales and account management, at HealthLink. Reach him at (314) 753-2100 or [email protected].
VIDEO: Watch our videos, “Saving Money Through Self-Funding Parts 1 & 2.”
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