Home > News > Post Content

If ObamaCare Stays, Employer Based Insurance Will Go (243 hits)

JIM ANGLE, FOX NEWS: In yet another controversy for Obamacare, analysts predict it will mean the end of employer provided insurance, with former Obama adviser Zeke Emanuel writing that 80 percent of such plans will disappear within 10 years.

EZEKIEL EMANUEL: It's going to actually be better for people. They'll have more choice. Most people who work for an employer and get their coverage through an employer do not have choice.

ANGLE: The Wall Street research firm S&P Capital IQ goes even further, predicting 90 percent of such plans will disappear.

MICHAEL THOMPSON, S&P CAPITAL IQ: The companies will really be hard-pressed to justify why they would continue to have to spend the kind of money they spend by offering insurance through corporate plans when there's an alternative that's subsidized by the government.

ANGLE: The reason analysts see this historic change is because the penalty for not offering insurance -- $2,000 per worker -- is much less than the cost of providing it.

JOHN GOODMAN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS: For a worker making only $15 an hour, typical employer coverage for a family costs $15,000 or $16,000. That's more than half of that worker's annual wage.

ANGLE: Creating an incentive for employers to shift low-income workers to the exchanges. But in his first campaign, well before the law passed, Mr. Obama sharply criticized a Republican proposal, arguing such coverage was untouchable.

BARACK OBAMA: This would lead to the unraveling of the employer based health care system. That I don't think is the kind of change that we need.

ANGLE: A reference to a proposal from Sen. John McCain in 2008 offering every American a $5,000 tax credit instead of tax-free insurance only for those who get coverage at work. Sen. Obama pounced on the idea.

OBAMA: What he doesn't tell you is that he is going to tax your employer based health care benefits for the first time ever.

ANGLE: But now analysts predict Obamacare will actually eliminate those plans altogether.

GOODMAN: He accused John McCain of trying to undermine employer provided health insurance, and now we find that Obamacare is having the very impact that Obama warned against. It may completely erode health insurance provided by employers.

ANGLE: So, after portraying himself as the defender of employer provided insurance, predictions say President Obama's policies will lead to its collapse, throwing some 150 million people into Obamacare instead of getting tax-free coverage at work.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/201...