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Five Benefits Challenges for Business Decision-Makers By Michael Naumann,


Aflac Market Vice President, Broker and Market Development A


s macroeconomic factors begin to improve, several crucial issues related to health care reform and benefits offerings have taken center


stage for companies across the country. Addressing the following five challenges should be top-of-mind for business decision-makers in light of the ever-changing health care landscape.


Decoding and Addressing Health Care Reform In a recent study “2011 Aflac WorkForces Report,”1 HR executives named understanding the changing health care landscape as the second biggest benefits challenge, and one in five said having the HR staff appropriately communicate benefits is a top challenge. Although some aspects of the new law are already in effect, most of the law will be phased in over the next several years, and the regulations to implement those elements may not be published for some time. With so much uncertainty, developing a long-term plan to comply with the law and manage health care costs can be a cumbersome and overwhelming task. Organizations that are just now tackling this issue may


16 CA Employer March 2011


want to focus on holding on to the grandfather status of their current plans. While 90 percent of employers believe their current health care plans will lose their grandfather status by 2014,2 retaining it as long as possible may give companies more time to develop a strategy.


Businesses can seek out health care benefits options that will soften the impact of the inevitable cost- shifting and rising out-of-pocket costs on their valuable workforces. This includes considering voluntary solutions that have no direct cost to the company, but that offer workers choice in additional coverage that best suits their needs.


Increasing Employee Engagement and Education of Benefits Options There is often a large disparity between employers and employees when it comes to the effectiveness of benefits communications. According to the Aflac study1 of employers and employees, 40 percent of HR executives said they believe they are “extremely/very


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