Monday, August 29, 2011

Look out below!

We last noted the fact that ObamaCare©=Doom for group health plans about two months ago. As we've noted all along, any sane employer is going to take a look at the Exchanges, then at the employer mandate and its concomitant fines, do some quick math, and come to the entirely rational conclusion that dropping group health coverage is a "no-brainer."

A few days (months) late and a few dollars short, the McPaper has finally glommed onto this exciting news:

"Nearly one in 10 midsize or large employers expects to stop offering health coverage to workers once federal insurance exchanges start in 2014"

Says whom?

Says Towers Watson, a major employee benefits consulting firm. And it's not just TW; Mercer (another independent health care and financial services research firm) has reached a similar conclusion: "8% are either "likely" or "very likely" to end health benefits once the exchanges start."

The TW report is actually a bit scarier (if one's spooked by these sorts of things), because it identifies another 20% of employers currently straddling the fence. What are the odds that the bulk of these are going to end up keeping their group plans?

Yeah, that's what I thought, too.

As a matter of policy, of course, I'm in the "anti-group" camp; that is, I don't think that one's health insurance should be tied to one's employment. But this isn't the way to get there.

[Hat Tip: Stop The Hit]
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