Modern Healthcare interviewed Manatt's Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health Solutions, for an article on how the U.S. Supreme Court may have laid the groundwork for a shift away from employer-sponsored health plans by exempting closely held corporations from a federal regulation requiring insurance coverage for contraceptives.
Modern Healthcare reports that the court ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores that the Department of Health and Human Services could not force closely held for-profit companies to pay large fines for refusing to provide employees with types of birth-control coverage to which company owners have religious objections. One alternative now is for more employers to move toward private exchanges, where their workers could use tax-advantaged company funds to select among a dozen or more insurance plans.
"Many people predict that the private exchanges will eventually become larger than the public exchanges," said Ario. "If that decision is given to most people, and the exchanges actually work for most people … I don't know too many people who would prefer their employer to buy their coverage."
Read the article here.