Sarah Kliff looks at a new survey of 512 companies showing that few, if any employers plan to stop providing health insurers to workers after President Obama’s health care reform law is fully implemented.
“These are companies that spend at least $5 million in health benefits annually. They were asked how likely it was that they would drop coverage in 2014 and send employers to the new health care exchanges being created to accommodate the law. Not a single employer said that scenario was ‘very likely.’ A mere 3 percent ranked it ‘somewhat likely.’”
“If it’s hard to understand why employers would spend more than $15,000 on employee health benefits when they have the option of only spending $2,000 to skip health care, it might help to think in a different way. Right now, employers spend $15,000 on an employee’s health benefits when they could be spending…absolutely nothing. They offer benefits not because any law requires them to but because it serves their interests: They can remain competitive when recruiting employees and keep their workforce healthier and more productive.”
