The group cancellations were scheduled for 2013 but remember they gave the group market a 1 year reprieve? That means the cancellations will be in 2014 for groups instead of 2013.
The employer mandate to offer coverage was delayed, but the “10 commandments of essential benefits” were not delayed for group plans, which are the provisions that are forcing cancellations of plans. I don’t think there will be as much sticker shock for the group market though, because those plans were probably already more robust than individual, catastrophic plans, and already had coverage for pregnancy and such things.
We got our new plan rates last week, and the premium went up a bit, deductibles doubled, but the change doesn’t look as dramatic as I’ve seen in these individual plan reports. Our plan already wasn’t very skimpy or cheap to begin with, and I would guess a lot of group plans for middle to higher income workers aren’t.
The effect the employer mandate will have is on how many hours companies give workers and how many full-timers they hire. If they’re on the edge where they can avoid the mandate by making some cuts to staff than they will do that.
“The ObamaCare “employer mandate” is a requirement that all businesses with over 50 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees provide health insurance for their full-time employees, or pay a per month “Employer Shared Responsibility Payment” on their federal tax return.”
This testimony was given at the end of last month. After the year's delay was "enacted".