Cover Story: Mid Term Report
For employers thinking of dropping health care coverage, an early warning of the potential PR pitfalls came in late September. The Wall Street Journal reported that McDonald’s Corp. was considering dropping its “mini-med” policies, which cover approximately 30,000 restaurant workers, unless the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) removed a provision of the health care reform law requiring that 80 to 85 percent of premiums paid into a plan be spent on benefits. McDonald’s says its “mini-med” plans, which place a low cap on annual benefits, involve greater administrative costs because of employee turnover and relatively low claims payouts.
