Posted on 08/25/2011 9:22:04 AM PDT by tobyhill
What will happen with Americans' health insurance in 2014 remains guesswork, but this much is clear: A significant number of employers will at least think about dropping coverage.
That point was driven home again Wednesday with the release of another survey on how companies plan to address the sweeping changes generated by the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
The latest results come from professional services firm Towers Watson, which said 9% of the midsize and large companies it recently polled plan to drop employer-sponsored health insurance after the Affordable Care Act takes effect in 2014.
Other research has predicted that even more firms will drop coverage, letting employees buy insurance on their own through the online marketplaces, or exchanges, that will be established.
That's assuming, of course, that the U.S. Supreme Court, which is widely expected to rule on the act, doesn't toss it out as unconstitutional.
"There are just a lot of unanswered questions, and a lot of it's speculation," said Dale Thoma, managing partner for Willis of Wisconsin, Inc., an arm of global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings.
But clients, he said, are asking for help exploring options, including the possibility of dropping coverage three years from now.
"Absolutely, people are talking about it," Thoma said. "It will probably be the No. 1 topic in our business."
Others have noticed the same talk.
Dianne Kiehl, executive director of the Business Health Care Group, a coalition of Milwaukee-area employers created to slow rising costs, said her members are "all kind of still waiting" but some haven't ruled out dropping coverage.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Well...duh...that’s the object of Obamacare....to bring folks to their knees.
if obamacare survives that long.
I don’t understand
I thought employers had to offer health insurance that Teddy Kennedy had instituted that as a way to “universally cover” everybody
“That point was driven home again Wednesday with the release of another survey on how companies plan to address the sweeping changes generated by the Affordable Care Act of 2010.”.....
The only sweeping going on will be the sweep of socialists out of office and the repeal of all their crap legislation.
I think companies won’t have any more trouble dumping healthcare than they did pensions. Overall, I think unhinging healthcare from employment is the right thing, even though the impact may be painful for folks like me and my wife (she is a stroke survivor), but hopefully there would be an option for us. With the right options, small business may take off again. I know many who stay in large companies rather than try something on their own because of healthcare.
I distinctively remember Obama telling us we could keep our current health care.
The actual obamacare plan has been defunded under that name but the structure is still being built up. This is why you should NEVER give them any power over you. They will abuse it. Remember, the Social Security number was never intended to be used for identification and the IRS would only have authority over the very highest incomes in the US.
The road to single payer health care!
Indiana University is buying up private health care facilities and buying out doctors in Indiana under the auspices of “IU Health” as I type this response.
I’m sure other states have something similiar going on.
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