SURVEY SAYS: Trump Presidency Effect on Benefits

Last week, I asked NewsDash readers, “Which benefit-related item do you think will be MOST affected by Trump’s presidency?”

More than six in ten (62.9%) of responding readers work in a plan sponsor role, 19.1% are advisers/consultants, 13.5% are TPAs/recordkeepers/investment managers and 4.5% are CPAs.      

The vast majority (83.5%) of respondents said health benefits will be MOST affected by Trump’s presidency. Meanwhile, 4.4% selected “The Department of Labor fiduciary rule, 3.3% chose “Tax treatment of retirement plan contributions and benefits,” and 2.2% selected “Social Security and Medicare.” Non one selected “Retirement plan investing due to market and interest rate expectations.”

Among “other” responses were:

• FSA/HSA max
• The benefit of living in a diverse, multi-cultural nation that respects gender equality and civil discourse between citizens, leaders and other countries while putting country before self.
• EAP
• It could be anything or nothing. He is not able to do anything for a couple months so let’s not fret now. We do not want stress to impact health care before he is even in office.
• Firms may now need to reconsider their sexual harrassment policies
• None

In verbatim comments, quite a few responding readers expressed fear, with comments like, “Good luck to us all,” “Terrifying,” “Oy vey!,” “It cannot be good,” “A disaster,” and “God help us all.” However, many readers expressed hope in what he will do, especially with respect to health care, but also by rolling back some other regulations, including the DOL fiduciary rule. Editor’s Choice goes to the reader who said: “At our firm, the most impacted benefit after Trump’s election is the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). A huge demand for grief counseling!” 

Verbatim 

It is going to be interesting to see what comes of his presidency.

I'm hoping he will increase the limits on employee health savings accounts - FSA or HSA or HRA, etc.

With benefits I'll at least get ample warning of change. My head is still spinning trying to understand the things I've heard people say. I wasn't prepared for the effects on my family/friends from newly validated racists.

ANY regulatory relief would help. Virtually all productive work has been crowded out by compliance...

If he does what he promised, he'll be a tyrant. If he doesn't, he'll be a liar.

Good luck to us all.

Return to free-market competition, fewer governmental directives

Obamacare will be replaced with a more competitive private program to hopefully bring costs down. It is important that they keep the few good parts, like children on parent’s policy until age 26 and no prohibitions on pre-existing conditions.

He will address the Cadillac Tax and all of the annual fees that employers are paying into the ACA. I do think parts of the ACA will remain, such as: no pre-existing conditions, children being carried on their parents plan until age 26 (although he may address the part about if they are working they will have to take their employers plan and they could then be placed on the parents as secondary). I do believe that the ACA will in some facet will continue but that it will be more common sense and less designed for a particular class of individual.

God only knows, the man has never held an elected position before, so he's a little out of his realm.

Too soon...

The Benefit of the Doubt will be most severely tested.

The electoral college elected Trump on behalf of the voters, the ACA was implemented not on behalf of the people, but by a political agenda. Therefore, it was doomed to fail.

DC plans and IRAs may become a thing of the past

Verbatim (cont.) 

Less political considerations, but more tax effective

My company has a number of Teamsters who are covered under the failing Central States Pension. We were anticipating a Hillary victory and possibly some type of bailout. Who knows what will happen next with Trump and republicans in charge. Although he's technically a republican, the workers covered by the plan are his people.

Oy vey!

Maybe now we can fix some of the mess within the ACA!

I really hope he will roll back regulations issued by unelected officials!

I hope there will be less regulation, not just that he stops implementing new, but that he relaxes some of the existing. It would be interesting to see studies on the added costs to businesses due to various pieces of regulation. Also, I presume that each new regulation requires more government employees to monitor. Maybe there will be a glut of laid off government employees soon!

It is my hope that Trump will bring some business sense to all of the issues above. While it is good to provide for our people in need, we cannot do it when the money is not there. We have ran way too long on debt. The U.S. must get its deficit under control.

It cannot be good.

I think it will be better less government interference and get rid of DOL new ruling

Hopefully benefits will not be decreased for higher paid employees in order to "equalize" dollar-wise with lower paid employee levels like would have been expected with "far-left" Hillary.

If he successfully reverses Obamacare, I wonder how hard will it be to "un-do" what's already been done?

I'm happy to hear that he wants to repeal the ACA, however I wish he could do it before I spend numerous hours completing forms for 2016!

I think he will have a positive effect on changing the mess that we have with health care. The ACA is faulty and getting worse by the day. It needs to be overhauled.

Verbatim (cont.) 

The Trump presidency is possibly the worst thing that has happened to the U.S. across the board in many decades. He may have won the electoral college - an antiquated and elitist construct if there ever was one, but he lost the popular vote. He is not, nor will ever be my president.

Be careful what you wish for.

If only he could repeal the individual and employer mandate now so we can cease the difficult work of preparing for the 1095-C and 1094 reporting!

At our firm, the most impacted benefit after Trump's election is the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). A huge demand for grief counseling!

Hoping to see relief from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) recordkeeping requirements and regulations. Most importantly would like to see the definition of a full-time employee changed from the current definition of an employee who averages 30 hours a week or more. This rule has been very harmful to employees who previously were able to work multiple jobs in the school system. It has limited the work available to them and their earnings.

Would love him to address Social Security and Medicare -- neither candidate touched it (from what I saw)

A disaster

If top corporate and individual tax rates are substantially reduced, so will the number of qualified plans sponsored by small businesses.

I think we chose the better of two potentially dangerous people. Hopefully, Trump will clean up the fraud and corruption in Washington. Term limits would be a nice start.

Trump will surely strike the match to start the 'benefits' bonfire and the regulatory bureaucracy will blow it out. He'll soon find it's hard to remember you're there to drain the swamp when you’re a** deep in alligators.

I can't be more embarrassed that he has been elected to represent our country.

The effect of his presidency on benefits is the least of my worries.

God help us.

Melania Trump says her cause will be anti-bullying. Seriously?