A new study of nonprofits finds almost half are challenged by the Affordable Care Act. Most are also struggling understanding its requirements.
In 2014, 92 percent of surveyed nonprofits felt they had at least a moderate understanding of the law; in 2015 that number fell to 47 percent. In 2014, 18 percent of employers felt that they were extremely knowledgeable of the ACA; only 5 percent made that claim in 2015.
PPI Benefit Solutions of Wallingford conducted the 2015 Nonprofit Employee Benefits Survey. It measures and tracks benchmarks of private, nonprofit employee benefit plans.
What could be potentially troubling for the nonprofits is a lack of understanding of the financial impact of the Affordable Care Act. PPI found 56 percent of surveyed nonprofits have not calculated the cost of compliance with the act, and 45 percent consider its implementation “very challenging” when providing employee benefits.
Although few nonprofit organizations plan to eliminate healthcare benefits or reduce their premium contributions as a direct result of the Affordable Care Act, they continue to seek savings through plan design or decreasing dependent contributions, thus shifting more cost onto employees. This trend is reflected among 2015 survey results: 56 percent of surveyed nonprofits now offer a health savings account. This is up from only 12 percent in 2014. PPI said this proves that consumer directed health plans continue to gain momentum throughout the nonprofit sector.
“We see these struggles across our entire business; it is not necessarily unique to the nonprofit sector,” said Karen Greco, director of marketing for PPI Benefit Solutions. “Smaller, mid-sized employers are relying heavily on their brokers and administrators to bring clarity around certain aspects of the law, what does or does not apply, and what tools are available to help them meet their requirements.”
