Executives at Benefitfocus Inc. are hoping that current federal health insurance rules will stabilize, and that increasing regulatory stability will help large employers move ahead with efforts to update benefits programs.
Shawn Jenkins, the benefits distribution and administration technology company's chief executive officer, did not express any opinions about the current Affordable Care Act system itself, but he said today, during a conference call with securities analysts, that the past two years of "regulatory drama" seem to have frozen some large employers' benefit program decisionmaking.
Now that it looks as if any imminent federal changes could be incremental, rather than sweeping, that could free pent-up employer demand for help with improving their benefits systems, Jenkins said.
Jenkins and other Benefitfocus executives talked about their hopes for stability Thursday, during a conference call they held to go over third-quarter earnings with securities analysts.
(Related: ACORD Sets Benefits Enrollment Standard)
The company is reporting a $6.7 million net loss for the third quarter on $62 million in revenue, compared with a net loss of $8.6 million on $58 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2016.