It's been five years since the Affordable Care Act became the law of the land. This legislation requires all financially capable consumers to secure themselves health coverage, with many businesses needing to make employee benefits available as well. The low uninsured rate – 11.9 percent in the first quarter of 2015, according to Gallup – suggests that at the very least, Americans are complying with the primary component of the ACA, which is to get covered.
But when it comes to consumers' understanding of the ACA's requirements over and above the coverage mandate, Americans still have a lot to learn.
This is perhaps best illustrated among those who remain uninsured. For example, in a recent poll conducted by the Transamerica Center for Health Studies, nearly 45 percent of respondents said that they'd never heard of the health exchanges, state and federal-based marketplaces where individuals can go to obtain coverage for medical costs. This suggests that they also aren't aware of which states have exchanges of their own.
The federal exchange is operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which 36 states participate in. The remaining 14 have set up their own coverage marketplace.
Few point to ACA as a major health issue
This may come as a surprise, given the amount of time and attention given to the ACA by newspapers and television news outlets. But even when the ACA is an option, it's clear that consumers aren't thinking much about it. For example, in a poll done by the Kaiser Family Foundation in April, more than three-quarters of respondents pointed to lowering the cost of drugs for those with chronic conditions as the United States' top health-related priority, The Wall Street Journal reported. A much smaller percentage cited to ACA-related concerns, such as eliminating the so-called "Cadillac tax" that some businesses have to pay when providing employee benefits.
With these factors in mind, as an employer, it may be time to make the Affordable Care Act a subject matter that you and your staff have a firm understanding of.
Patrick Haraden, an employee benefits consultant, noted that the passage of the ACA has changed the way employers must handle health insurance literacy as it pertains to their workers.
"Prior to the [Patient Protection Affordable Care Act], the employee education that was provided to employees usually consisted of employee meetings at open enrollment time where the benefits broker or consultant would simply review the new benefit plans and rates with employees – those that actually showed up for the meetings – and tell them the deadline they needed to enroll or make changes," said Haraden, according to Producers eSource.
ACA complexity requires added explanation
He added that typical questions pre-ACA included what different plans they could choose from, how claims were paid for and if there were any changes in providers either in or out of network. With the ACA now in place, though, it's created a slew of additional issues that employee likely never thought about. For instance, workers now must be informed about when enrollment periods begin – something that employers are required to inform them about – which will naturally lead to more in-depth questions from staff members. Also, the ACA requires that the total cost of employee benefit plans be written out on workers' W-2 forms. This is another topic that's grounds for further discussion with all staff members.
In short, the ACA has forced employers to re-examine their employee benefits packages and how businesses make their workers aware of them. For instance, instead of a quarterly meeting, you may want to offer additional opportunities for learning, such as through Twitter, Facebook or having an insurance agent who specializes in ACA literacy come in to speak, fielding staff members' questions.
By increasing the opportunities in which your workers can learn about the ACA, the more informed they'll be as a consumer.
