Businesses Get Creative To Escape Obamacare Costs

Self-insuring to avoid premiums is the latest tactic

Obamacare's most notorious regulations — including the mandate that employers provide health insurance to their workers or pay a fine — are still several months off. But businesses are wasting no time finding ways to free themselves from the law's strictures.

First, companies announced that they'd cut hours, hire contractors, and take other steps to dodge the mandate that they provide health insurance to full-time employees or pay a fine.

Now they're engaging in some financial jiu-jitsu. Many firms — including small ones — are looking to "self-insure" so that they can avoid the sky-high insurance premiums that Obamacare augurs on the open market and through the exchanges.