The Affordable Care Act's provisions for employee health care top chief financial officers' lists of concerns this year.
Tim Mullaney, USA TODAY
Health care costs are the top concern of chief financial officers, who are still unsure of and worried about the impact of the Affordable Care Act on their businesses, a new survey of CFOs by Bank of America Merrill Lynch says.
Seven out of 10 CFOs and other top financial executives ranked health care among their top business concerns for 2013, easily topping a list of suggestions that included revenue growth, energy costs, taxes and the ability to find qualified workers. Multiple answers were allowed, and revenue growth placed second, with 42%.
The results suggest businesses are worried about the impact of the Affordable Care Act, which includes a mandate that most employers with more than 50 full-time employees provide insurance, said Alastair Borthwick, head of global commercial banking for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. That mandate, which was scheduled to take effect in January, was put off until 2015 by the Obama administration to give businesses more time to comply.
'More than anything else, health care dominates the analysis,'' Borthwick said.
In the same survey last year, 51% of CFOs named health care expenses as a top concern. The survey found businesses are preparing to offset expenses related to the federal law by encouraging preventive health care, boosting workers' share of their insurance premiums, cutting expenses outside of health care and raising prices for their own products and services.
Nearly 96% of U.S. businesses with more than 50 employees already provide health insurance, according to a 2012 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. About 59% of businesses with fewer than 50 workers offered health care in 2009, according to the White House.
Otherwise, CFOs are getting more optimistic about the economy, the survey said.
About 55% expect the economy to grow in 2013, compared with 39% in the same survey six months ago. Only 10% said they expect the economy to shrink, down from 24%. Almost half — 48% — said they expect their companies to add workers this year.
Executives' perception of economic conditions hit a five-year high, but hiring plans have changed little in recent months, Borthwick said.
"They're not prepared to have a (larger) employment base, based on what they've seen, just yet,'' he said.
But CFOs think the economy is improving and will improve further, he added.
The survey covered about 250 finance executives at companies with annual sales of $25 million to $2 billion, the bank said.
