To Pay or to Play?  Now that is “the” question employer groups are asking their brokers these days. As you know, beginning in 2014, the PPACA provides that employers with more than 50 full-time equivalent employees may be subject to a penalty tax if they do not offer health care coverage to all full-time employees. These employers can also be subject to a penalty if the coverage offered is unaffordable or does not provide minimum value.

Employers are anxious, not knowing whether to offer coverage, whether their coverage is affordable and provides minimum value, or whether to pay the tax, and are looking to you for guidance.

Need proof? Earlier this year we surveyed over 7,800 of your employer groups on how they are dealing with health care reform, and they told us two really important things relative to the pay or play question:

1. 87 percent think it is important or very important that their benefits broker be able to model the financial impact of HCR on their organization.
2. When asked how likely their organization is to continue offering health benefit coverage to their employees once the requirement kicks in, 51 percent said they will definitely continue coverage, 26 percent likely will continue coverage, 20 percent are unsure whether to continue coverage and only 3 percent are likely to discontinue coverage.

Recently we added some important tools to the Broker Briefcase Benefits product to help you frame and lead this vital discussion.

• Health Care Reform Pay or Play Calculator
• Health Care Reform Pay or Play Calculator – Completed Sample A
• Health Care Reform Pay or Play Calculator – Completed Sample B
• Health Care Reform Pay or Play Announcement Email
• Health Care Reform Pay or Play Calculator Sell Sheet
• Health Care Reform Pay or Play Calculator Tutorial Video

These new tools are resonating with our partners. Since Zywave added them to Broker Briefcase, the Pay or Play Calculator, along with its supporting content, has been viewed and used over 5,000 times. It’s easy to see why these powerful new prospecting and retention tools are so popular. They allow you to demonstrate your expanded capabilities and most importantly give strategic advice and guidance to questions that are top of mind for employer groups, such as:

• In 2014, will we have to pay a penalty?
• Is our health plan affordable? Does it provide minimum value?
• How much could we be required to pay in penalty taxes with our current health plan?
• Can you recommend changes we might make to our plan design to protect us from potential penalties?
• What is the cost associated with upgrading to a compliant plan, and the penalties associated with dropping coverage?
• If I drop coverage, what will we need to do to subsidize our employees to keep them at the same level of compensation?
• How could dropping coverage affect employee morale and retention?
• How can you help our organization shift to a consumerism plan design model?
• What are other companies like ours doing?

Your customers are anxious about health care reform. Seize the opportunity to lead the way.