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Planes de Salud y Pequeños Negocios (Tomado de Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

Benefits

Small Employer Health Plans Push Costs Onto Workers

By John Tozzi                August 20, 2013

 

Small businesses aren’t dropping health benefits en masse in response to rising costs and the looming Obamacare reforms. They’re just making workers pay more for it.

That’s the picture that emerges from the new Employer Health Benefits Survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a detailed survey of more than 2,000 U.S. employers of all sizes. The report showed a moderate 4 percent increase in health premiums this year, and the share of companies offering benefits, at 57 percent, was about the same as last year.

Most workers with health benefits now have a “general deductible,” a portion of medical costs they have to pay directly before the insurance plan kicks in. At small firms (in this case, companies with between 3 and 199 workers), the average deductible for an individual plan is $1,715 in 2013, according to Kaiser. That’s almost double the average amount that workers in larger firms are on the hook for.

And for the first time in Kaiser’s survey, a majority of workers covered by small employers—58 percent—have deductibles of at least $1,000. That’s a significant jump from 49 percent last year, and 21 percent in 2007.

“The trend continues, especially in smaller firms,” Drew Altman, chief executive of the Kaiser Family Foundation, told reporters on a conference call. “It’s part of what I see as a quiet revolution in health insurance from more comprehensive to less comprehensive with higher deductibles.”

And while Republicans protest the Affordable Care Act reforms, Altman says the growth of these health plans represents a victory for conservative health policy. “Beneath the radar screen, the vision of insurance that they’ve always favored, with much more skin in the game, is the one that’s coming to dominate in the marketplace,” Altman says.

It’s worth noting that high average deductibles don’t represent what the typical health-care consumer pays. That’s because many healthy people will use little or no medical care, while a few sick ones will need much more. “Most consumers don’t pay the average amount out of pocket because most health care is used by the few people who are very sick,” Kaiser’s Gary Claxton pointed out on the call.

Kaiser’s data, collected in partnership with the Health Research & Educational Trust, also provide some useful facts to keep on hand in the blitz of competing claims about Obamacare:

• Overall, employer health premiums for family plans rose 4 percent this year. While that’s faster than wages and general inflation, it’s much slower than the typical premium increases in previous years. “For me, a 4 percent premium increase is pretty striking. It’s also pretty good news,” Altman said.

• That doesn’t mean Americans feel good about it. Premiums have grown faster than workers’ paychecks every year since Kaiser’s survey began in 1999. And people are paying more through higher deductibles and other cost-sharing mechanisms. So it’s no surprise that when Kaiser polls consumers, a majority say their premiums are going up faster than usual, even though the survey of what insurers actually charge for premiums shows the opposite is true. “People still feel the pain of health-care costs and worry about paying their health-care bills,” Altman said.

• Most companies subject to Obamacare’s mandate already provide health coverage. Though the White House delayed for a year the part of the law that requires employers with 50 or more workers to provide affordable coverage or pay a fine, 93 percent of them already offer some health benefits, according to Kaiser. However, the plans they offer today may not meet the law’s standard for affordable coverage.

Tozzi is a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek in New York.

 

Publications on Line from the U.S. Chamber pf Commerce

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Publications about Top 10 Overlooked Facts About...:.

Transatlantic Trade (Just released!)  Flickr and PDF 

 

International Trade Flickr and PDF

 

International Investment Flickr and PDF

 

World Trade in Services Flickr and PDF 

 

the Trans-Pacific Partnership  Flickrand PDF

 

 

Also:

 

World Trade and Small Business by John Murphy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Visit www.TradeSupportsJobs.com for State and Congressional Trade Data

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Export Boom, U.S. Cities Sell to the World (From Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

Trade

By Dorothy Gambrell on August 08, 2013

 

U.S. exports in June increased to an all-time high. While most of the big coastal cities did well, metropolitan areas on the Gulf stand out for their thriving oil and gas business.

 

 

 

 

Wal-Mart's New Goal: Sell All the Beer (from Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

Wal-Mart's New Goal: Sell All the Beer

 

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg                           A beer-filled cooler at a Walmart in Alexandria

 

By Susan Berfield

 

When Wal-Mart (WMT) began buying a greater number of locally grown fruits and vegetables in 2010, it made sure its efforts got plenty of publicity. But when Walmart decided it wanted to double its alcohol sales by 2016, it didn’t exactly issue a press release.

Customers noticed, and those in the alcohol industry—or, as Walmart prefers, the adult beverage business—certainly took note of the change. “They’ve said they want to be the No. 1 beer seller in the world,” Cameron Smith, the president of an executive search firm that works closely with Walmart’s supplier network, told Bloomberg News. “They’re getting there quick. Everyone in the supplier community is on cloud nine.”

So far, Walmart seems pretty pleased with the results, although the company hasn’t provided specific sales figures. “Feedback has been very positive” and the relationship with distributors “has been very collaborative,” says Deisha Barnett, a Walmart spokeswoman.

Walmart has been selling alcohol since its first supercenters opened in the late 1980s. It hasn’t emphasized adult beverages as it’s doing now, with more prominent displays and deeper discounts on a wider range of beer brands. The gigantic company is even selling craft brews. “Walmart hasn’t been a huge beer player compared to others,” says Eric Shepard, executive editor of Beer Marketers Insights. Those others, which include Costco (COST), BJ’s, and grocery and convenience-store chains, will now have to compete with the world’s largest retailer. The U.S. beer market is worth about $45 billion. “I assume they’re hurting everybody when they sell more of anything,” says Shepard.

Walmart saw an opportunity to gain market share, according to the company spokeswoman, and Walmart is taking it. One reason it may not have pushed beer before now is a legacy of Sam Walton. The founder wasn’t a teetotaler, but he didn’t tolerate too much drinking. According to his biography, when some employees got drunk at a Walmart company picnic, Walton banned alcohol at the events.
Now Walmart customers can even find beer for sale in some of the store’s garden centers.

Berfield writes about retailers, restaurants, and other consumer companies for Bloomberg Businessweek. Follow her on Twitter @susanberfield

 

 

La confusión entre los empleadores y el nuevo Obamacare: Tomado del Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Small Business

Can a New Obamacare Site Remedy Employers' Confusion?

 

By Nick Leiber

 

More than $500 million has been spent on advertising for and against health reform since 2009, with groups opposing Obamacare outspending supporters by almost 5 to 1, Bloomberg News’ Stephanie Armour reported this week. Opponents regularly cast small employers as victims of the law, and the competing messages have caused plenty of confusion. That’s prompting the Obama administration and some state governments to fight back with their own marketing efforts ahead of the Oct. 1 date when people will be able to shop for insurance on new state and federal marketplaces.

Announced Thursday, the administration’s latest push for employers and the self-employed is a new site on BusinessUSA.gov that aggregates the basics on the complex law from the Small Business Administration, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury Department. Outgoing SBA chief Karen Mills said in a press release that the site “will prove to be an invaluable resource for small employers.” Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker was more expansive, calling it a “tremendous resource for self-employed Americans and businesses of all sizes.”

A few quick spins on the site showed the cheerleading is overselling it a bit. Users punch their state and the number of people they employ into a “wizard tool” to get basics on timelines, coverage options, and tax credits. That part is smooth. But clicking on the topics the wizard spits out is clunkier, sending users to other government sites, mostly HealthCare.gov, where some of the information that the wizard already offered is repeated.

A test of the wizard as the hypothetical owner of a New York business with more than 50 employees not planning to offer insurance yielded seven topics about the changes in question-and-answer form. Example result: “Do I have to offer coverage to my employees? No employer has to offer health coverage. Some larger businesses that don’t offer coverage may have to make an Employer Shared Responsibility payment.”

Another test as a New York business with fewer than 25 employees that offers insurance and wants to explore new coverage options yielded 13 topics. Finding the page that made it clear that New York, like 16 other states and the District of Columbia, is setting up its own marketplace, instead of deferring the responsibility to the federal government, took a bunch of clicks.

A couple of pages employers might want to bookmark: “What is the Marketplace in my state?” and “How much will Marketplace health insurance cost?“

Leiber is Small Business editor for Businessweek.com, Entrepreneurs editor for Bloomberg.com, and covers small business for Bloomberg Businessweek

Bloomberg BusinessWeek: La Bebida subió de precio pero...

Drinks

Booze Prices Went Up, But Americans Were Too Drunk to Notice

By Kyle Stock

 

Never underestimate the consumer confidence of a classy drunk. Americans are increasingly ordering the good stuff and, in the process, pouring big profits into companies that make booze and beer.

 

Diageo (DGE:LN), which owns Smirnoff Vodka, Shark Tooth rum, and many other intoxicating brands, noted in its earnings report that North America accounted for 40 percent of profit in the recent quarter, despite representing only one-third of the company’s sales. Why are drinkers here so lucrative? For one thing, North Americans are buying more from the top shelf than drinkers elsewhere. Diageo’s best performers included Bulleit Bourbon, considered a “super deluxe” brand, and spendy whiskeys such as Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which generally sells for $150 to $200 a bottle.

While reporting some “soft spots” in emerging markets, Diageo was also able to stick U.S. drinkers with higher prices, levering a 9 percent increase on its “super premium” scotch, according to a conference call this morning. Even lower-end librations saw payoffs on higher prices—drinkers paid 10 percent more for Popov vodka and 7 percent more for Gordon’s Gin—but didn’t seem to notice, with sales by volume remaining steady.

The story was similar at Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI:BB). Despite a 1.2 percent drop in drink sales by volume, the Brussels-based beer company posted a 3.9 percent boost in revenue, in part due to a price increase on its U.S. beers at the end of last year. Americans increasingly reached for Stella Artois and Goose Island and the like, and warmed to new InBev brands Bud Light Platinum and Budweiser Black Crown. All told, InBev North American beer sales fell almost 2 percent—yet revenue increased 1.5 percent and profit climbed almost 3 percent.

Stock is an associate editor for Businessweek.com.