Health insurance exchanges, mandated under the Affordable Care Act, are intended to bring parity to employee health insurance costs nationwide. Findings from a new survey show that might be more difficult than expected.
A survey conducted by United Benefit Advisors indicates that differences of as much as $3,000 in state-by-state employee health plan costs may impact the federal government's implementation of health insurance exchanges, which are scheduled to be up and running by 2014..
The 2010 UBA Health Plan Survey was based on responses from 17,113 health plans sponsored by 11,413 employers nationwide.
The survey rindicates Alaska has the highest average annual cost per employee at $10,881, followed by Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts with costs ranging from $10,200 to $10,400.
By contrast, the states with the least expensive costs (in the $6,000 range) were Kentucky, Arkansas, Idaho and Arizona.
According to Bill Stafford, UBA's vice president of member services, the disparity illustrates the difficult nature of creating parity through a national plan and may indicate a greater need for state-based programs.
"The question is who will manage regional co-operatives and exchanges when there are four or five potential insurance commissioners involved," he said.
Stafford said the intent of the UBA Health Plan Survey is to provide employers of all sizes with the data they need to manage their healthcare benefit programs effectively, especially employers with fewer than 1,000 employees. This faction of employees represents more than 99 percent of the employers in the United States, along with employers who have operations in multiple locations.
United Benefit Advisors is a member-owned alliance of more than 140 premier independent benefit advisory firms with offices in more than 165 offices throughout the United States, Canada and the U.K.