Eighty-four percent of U.S. employers expect to revisit their health care benefit strategy this year in the wake of the health care reform law, according to a new survey from Fidelity’s benefits consulting group.

The survey found that while the majority of employers expect health care reform to lead to cost increases in both the short and long term, smaller employers expressed greater fear about cost increases in the short term. 

Nearly half (49%) of smaller employers (500 employees or less) anticipate significant increases in health care costs in the short term, while just 25% of larger employers (500 employees or more) indicated the same concern. 

"Company executives are taking a close look at their overall benefit strategies in the wake of the new health care reform legislation," says Sunit Patel, senior vice president of Fidelity’s Benefits Consulting services. "Over the long run, health care reform could lead to significant changes to an employee’s benefits well beyond health care coverage. There is a lot of confusion out there about the real impact of the health care legislation and the accompanying costs."

When asked if their organization is seriously thinking about no longer offering health care coverage, most employers (64%) said they were not, but 20% said that they were considering it. 

A higher percentage of smaller companies (22%) said they were seriously considering eliminating health care coverage compared with larger employers (14%).

When asked about which health plan design would be most attractive going forward, more than half (55%) of larger employers chose a high-deductible health plan, followed by a PPO (45%) and an HMO (18%). 

Organizations which already offer a high-deductible plan were more likely to consider it the best option for the future — 60% of this group said HDHPs make the most sense for them.

The survey of 459 employers was conducted June 10-30.