Survey: Large Companies Expect To Pay More Under ACA’s Excise Tax

Large companies expect to spend between $4,800 and $5,900 per employee over the next decade because of costs stemming from the Affordable Care Act, according to a survey released Wednesday by the American Health Policy Institute, the Washington Post's "Wonkblog" reports. 

Survey Details

For the survey, AHPI examined the costs that companies with 10,000 or more employees would incur if they did not make changes to address the ACA. According to "Wonkblog," the survey does not account for health care cost inflation, how employers might already be adapting to the ACA or certain other factors.

AHPI asked more than 350 members of the HR Policy Association that had at least 10,000 employees to complete internal and consultant analyses on what the ACA would cost them over the next 10 years. About 103 companies responded, representing roughly 4.3 million covered lives.

Survey Findings

The companies identified several provisions of the ACA that would increase costs for them over the coming decade, including:

• The 40% excise tax on high-cost health plans that is set to take effect in 2018, which companies identified as the ACA provision that would/will incur the most costs;
• Fees for temporary reinsurance programs;
• A government-sponsored institute that is examining the efficacy of health care interventions;
• The ACA's preventive health care requirements; and
• The ACA provision that allows parents to keep their children on their plan through age 26 (Millman, "Wonkblog," Washington Post, 4/1).