Health underwriting delays and executive benefits cuts could be some of the benefits trends cropping up in the coming year, benefits brokers say.
Brokers have been sending out forecasts describing some of the issues that they feel might make news.
In Illinois, the state has tried to help individuals and small groups by developing a standardizing underwriting form, according to Helen Clary, employee benefits director at Alper Services L.L.C., Chicago.
The state did that to help customers use a single form to seek quotes from several different carriers. A customer who might have sent one form to one carrier in the past may now 
send underwriting requests to several different companies, Clary says.
The problem, she says, is that the carriers have about the same number of staffers to handle the applications.
The rapid increase in the number of applications per underwriter could create long delays, Clary warns.
Burnham Benefits Insurance Services Inc., Irvine, Calif., says the rough economy and various provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, are encouraging employers to drop executive benefits.
"Many companies have had to weigh the competitive edge these benefits provide against the costs and risks they entail, and some were faced with no choice but to set these policies aside as they struggled to stay afloat in challenging economic times," Burnham says in its trends forecast.
Meanwhile, Burnham expects to see more employers with good claims results shift to self-funded health plans, to escape from the looming Affordable Care Act restrictions on group health insurance rating requirements and other provisions that affect insurers but not self-funded employer health plans.
Employers also are emphasizing wellness programs, and, this year, they may be focusing more on programs that reward employees for meeting health goals, rather than simply participating in wellness program activities, Burnham says.
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