Strategies of Employer Sponsor Insurance Plans

This qualitative research explores the burden of high health care costs on employers and how they are adopting strategies to reduce the expenses on covering their employees’ health care coverage. The study reveals that the employers are cutting down the number of jobs or recruitments in the US due to the increasing costs which the employers are bearing on account of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. The research is based on an interview of 20 employers from different companies who have more than 50 employees working in their organization.

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Title: Strategies of Employer Sponsor Insurance Plans
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Strategies of Employer Sponsor Insurance Plans
Problem Statement
The Affordable Care Act or the Obamacare which makes it mandatory for the business to offer
health coverage to their employees has imposed huge burden on the employers as they are
having to bear a high cost of providing health acre to their employees. The cost which the large
employers are bearing to secure the health care to the employees will increase with ten years to
reach an amount of $ 4,800 to $5,900 for each employee (Troy, Czekai & Wilson, 2014). The
general business problem is that the business organizations are are having to pay very high
premiums towards the health care of their employees as a result of the current health care
provisions in U.S. The specific business problem is that there is a need for research and analysis
to direct the way in which the business organizations must try to develop strategies so that they
can mediate the high costs of proving their employee health care Afforable care Act or
Obamacare.
Purpose Statement
The main purpose of conducting this qualitative research is to see why the employers are cutting
down the number of jobs or recruitments in U.S due to the increasing costs which the employers
are bearing on account of the Afforabale Care or Obamacare (Buchmueller, et.al, 2016).
Theresearch is conducted through an interview of20 employers from different companies who
have more than 50 employees working in their organization. They are bearing the health
coverage cost of their employees otherwise they would have to face a fine of $ 2,000 for evry
employee who is uninsured for each month. These costs which are mandatory for the business
organisations to bear are leading to the loss of financial capital which the companies arefacing.
The reduction in the level of profit is also an impact of the rising costs of employer sponsored
health care which has been highlighted in the response derived from the qualitativeresearch
(McCusker & Gunaydin, 2015). The research shows that the number of employees who are being
recuited and the number of full time jobs which the employers are shifting to part time jobs so
that they have to pay for less health care insurance coverage (Carman, Eibner & Paddock, 2015).
The burden of the health care insurance plans is resulting in cutting of jobs in many companies
and leading to unemployment (Butler, 2015).

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Nature of the Study
The research has used a survey based descriptive analysis to drawn a conclusion and resolve the
problems. A qualitative research methodology is appropriate here as the analysis would be made
on the response and views of the interviewees (Barnham, 2015). The results which are derived
from the research are used so that the a concrete inference can be drawn to understandhow the
jobs are being affected by the hige health care costs borne by employers.
The research has explored how the excessive pressure of the covering the health insurance costs
has impacted the employment decisions of the employees. The employers are adopting different
ways to evade the excessive cost of health insurance (Crews, 2017).
The main focus of the research is on the strategies which the employers are adopting so that they
can pay less premiums on the health insurance coverages plans of the full time employees. A
qualitative survey has been conducted so that the research question can be answered. The
qualitative survey is based on the interview method. The respondents are chosen from different
business organizations. The set of interviewees consistof the employers who are bearing the cost
of health insurance.These interviewees are provided a questionnaire which helps them to answer
the relevant questions whose answers can used as data to draw an inference to this research.
Qualitative Research Question
The qualitative research question in this case is that, “How the employers are cutting down the
expenses on covering their employees’ health care coverage?’
Interview Questions
The research is based on an interview and so the questions for the interview questionnaire are
such that they give relevant results. The following questions are a part of the questionnaire which
the interviewees answer.
1. How much are the employers losing on their financial capital due to the employees’
health insurance coverage?
2. How are the profits of the business organizations affected by increased expenditure on
the health schemes like Affordable Care Act or Obamacare?
3. Why are employers cutting down their jobs?
4. Why there is increased number of full time jobs being replaced by part time jobs?

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5. What is the opinion of the employers about the health care provisions they are spending
on for their employees?
6. Do the employers see a positive change in the health conditions of their employees?
7. Has spending on health care of the employees helped the employers in the form of
increased productivity of their employees?
Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
The study and research has revealed that fact that the employers are unhappy by the terms which
are currently imposed on the employers for paying the premiums for their employees’ health care
(Mossialos, Wenzl, Osborn & Sarnak, 2016). The employers find it a huge burden to spend huge
amounts on the health coverage insurance plans for their employees (Miller, Vistnes, Rohde, &
Keenan, 2018). This is reducing their profit level as a lot of money is drained out of the revenue.
The financial capital of the companies is also reducing due to such high health care expenditures.
The employers are wanting to reduce the number of job positions so that they have less
employees and fewer insurance plan premiums to pay for. The employers are also employing
more part time or contractual employees so that they can pay less for health care. The employers
are now directly contacting the health care units so that they can provide for the health care of
their employees directly rather than paying huge premiums towards Affordable Care Act or
Obamacare.
Significance of the Research
The research is a very significant one as the research question tries to find out how the employers
can reduce the costs of the employer sponsored health care insurances for their employees. The
companies can adopt their organization specific health care systems to ensure the health care of
their employees. The pharmacy costs of the employees can be managed proactively from the
organisation’s side. This can make the health care more cost effective. The payment system for
the health care can be altered as the Obamacare or Affordable Care Acts are more expensive for
the employers to afford (Mossialos, et.al, 2016). The government should take some measures so
that the employers do not face huge pressure for covering the health care costs of their
employees otherwise this in turn could lead to unemployment. The jobs will be curtailed and also

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the opportunities for full time jobs will be affected negatively.This will have a detrimental
impact on the economic conditions of the nations.

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References
Barnham, C. (2015). Quantitative and qualitative research: Perceptual foundations. International
Journal of Market Research, 57(6), 837-854.
Buchmueller, T. C., Levinson, Z. M., Levy, H. G., & Wolfe, B. L. (2016). Effect of the
Affordable Care Act on racial and ethnic disparities in health insurance
coverage. American journal of public health, 106(8), 1416-1421.
Butler, S. (2015). Evolving beyond traditional employer-sponsored health insurance. Abingdon,
Oxfordhsire: Routledge.
Carman, K. G., Eibner, C., & Paddock, S. M. (2015). Trends in health insurance enrollment,
2013–15. Health Affairs, 34(6), 1044-1048.
Crews Jr, C. (2017). Tip of the Costberg: On the Invalidity of All Cost of Regulation Estimates
and the Need to Compile Them Anyway. London, UK: Sage.
McCusker, K., & Gunaydin, S. (2015). Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed
methods and choice based on the research. Perfusion, 30(7), 537-542.
Miller, G. E., Vistnes, J. P., Rohde, F., & Keenan, P. S. (2018). High-Deductible Health Plan
Enrollment Increased From 2006 To 2016, Employer-Funded Accounts Grew In Largest
Firms. Health Affairs, 37(8), 1231-1237.
Mossialos, E., Wenzl, M., Osborn, R., & Sarnak, D. (2016). 2015 international profiles of health
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Troy, T. D., Czekai, A., & Wilson, D. M. The Health Care Employment Squeeze: Labor Day
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