By now, you’ve notified workers about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and made sure your Health plans comply with it. That’s all you have to communicate, right? Wrong.
“People still have a lot of questions regarding the Act and many are concerned about how it might affect their benefits,” says Julie Stich, of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP). To give your workers a clear picture of the ACA landscape, the federation recommends these guidelines:
- Explain the provisions of the act as clearly and concisely as possible.
- Concentrate on the most immediate changes,–what will happen come January 1.
- Focus on the areas that will impact your employees directly.
- Clarify what workers need to do. Make sure they know whether you’ll be maintaining their plan or if they’ll need to shop online or by phone through an insurance exchange.
- State the value of your health care coverage in dollars per person; According to the IFEBP, “a worker will better appreciate and understand the value on per individual basis.”
- Remind employees about the health care providers available through your plan; vendors and third-party administrators can help here.
- Discuss such cost-sharing provisions as deductibles, copayments, and premiums, if these will change in 2014.
- Explain plan design changes required by the ACA; if workers have heard about a topic in the media, make sure they hear about it from you.
- Emphasize your commitment to providing health care in the future.
- Stress why you offer benefits, whether it’s to attract the best talent, stay competitive, and/or take care of people you think of as family.
If you’d like professional advice on spreading the word to your workers, just give us a call.