Employers Poised To Drop Health Coverage
New rules make offering coverage risky and expensive
No one can predict how many employers will drop health-care coverage in 2014, when the bulk of the Affordable Care Act takes effect. If workers can get affordable health plans on their own next year, though, many more companies may feel it's safe to stop offering company health benefits in the years that follow.
Companies see 2014 as an experiment to watch. "What we're hearing is larger businesses are going to stand back," says Robert Hurley, senior vice president for sales and operations at online health insurance marketplace eHealth (EHTH). "Even the small businesses will wait and see."
Fear of backlash from workers keeps many employers from dropping coverage, as Bloomberg reported in December. Tax deductions for health spending also encourage businesses to keep offering benefits. Still, while few admit it publicly, many American companies would love get out of the health insurance business. For employers, providing health insurance is expensive and the cost increases are unpredictable. Their competitors in most other wealthy nations don't have to bear the same costs: That's usually the government's job.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?