The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions conducted an online survey including 700 employers between February and March 2015 on the health benefits program and how the public and private insurance exchanges are working.
A private insurance exchange allows employers to shift defined contribution for healthcare through the online market place. Here are key statistics from the report:
1. 11 percent of the respondents said they adopted the private insurance exchanges and 8 percent said they weren't satisfied with the exchange; 20 percent said it hadn't reduced costs.
2. Another 62 percent of respondents said they are likely to move toward a private insurance exchange over the next one to two years.
3. Around 2.5 million individuals at companies across the United States enrolled in health insurance plans through private exchanges in 2014. Private sector companies including insurance companies and brokerage firms create the private exchanges, which move away from a defined benefit model to the defined contribution model.
4. 38 percent of employers said they could control healthcare costs with the private exchange plans and 45 percent said the private exchanges simplified their company's role in benefit administration as well as helped them comply with the Affordable Care Act.
5. 45 percent of respondents said the private exchanges improved employee satisfaction because there was increased control in how they spent the employer contribution on health insurance.
6. 44 percent of the respondents said the private exchanges allow the company to maintain benefits instead of dropping coverage, and 43 percent said the private exchanges offered similar coverage to the current plans but with improved cost and/or quality.
7. 40 percent of respondents said the private exchanges improved employee satisfaction because shopping for health insurance became easier and 43 percent reported improved access to a broader physician/hospital network.
8. Among those who hadn't adopted a private exchange, 51 percent prefer a carrier that offered the best available (one) carrier to employees in each region; 31 percent preferred a carrier that offered multiple carriers in each region.