The promise was that healthcare reform wouldn’t force employers to drop or change existing plans. A close look at the new regs could lead you to believe otherwise.

Specifically, following the reform rules will almost certainly lead to higher costs for employers. Because, essentially, the rules say you can keep your plan if you don’t:

• Significantly cut or reduce benefits. For example, firms can’t eliminate coverage for people with chronic conditions like diabetes.
• Significantly raise co-pays. Grandfathered plans can’t increase staff co-pays by more than $5 (adjusted annually for inflation) or a percentage equal to medical inflation plus 15 percentage points. For instance, a plan would lose grandfathered status if co-pays rose from $30 to $50 over two years.
• Significantly raise deductibles. Plans can increase deductibles only by a percentage equal to medical inflation plus 15%.
• Significantly lower employer contributions. Grandfathered plans can’t decrease the percentage of premiums that employers pay by more than five percentage points.

And as a result of the rules, according to Department of Health and Human Services estimates, in 2013, as much as 64% of large businesses will not be grandfathered and 80% of  small businesses will have to give up their existing plans.

Go here for the full details  on “Group Health Plans and Health Insurance Coverage Relating to Status as a Grandfathered Health Plan Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”