Report: ObamaCare to save large corporations hundreds of billions

[n2doc]

By Ferdous Al-Faruque -

The Affordable Care Act could save some of America’s largest corporations hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade, according to a market analyst group.

According to a report by S&P Capital IQ released Thursday, S&P 500 companies will likely move their employees from employer-provided health insurance plans to the healthcare exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, saving employers nearly $700 billion through the year 2025. If current healthcare inflation stays constant, those savings could be greater than $800 billion, researchers found.

Corporations are expected to start out by dropping low-wage and part-time workers from their employer insurance plans since they are able to reap the benefits of government tax subsidies under Obamacare, leading them to pick up new plans under the healthcare law. Eventually, the burden of healthcare coverage will shift from employers to employees.

“Neither lawmakers nor the White House originally anticipated the idea that the ACA could provide corporations with an enormous subsidy to earnings,” say authors of the report. “However, once a few notable companies start to depart from their traditional approach to health care benefits, it's likely that a substantial number of firms could quickly follow suit.”



Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/204893-report-o-care-to-save-large-firms-hundreds-of-billions

[Jesus Malverde]

1. Alternate headline...

Report: ObamaCare to make insurance companies hundreds of billions

[JoePhilly]

2. The companies were already paying the insurers.

[Jesus Malverde]

5. This is regarding the 7 million new customers

the health care law that requires insurance companies to use 80 percent of collected premiums on medical services.

The rest is gravy..

[JoePhilly]

7. Then its not a relevant alternative title for this article.

[Jesus Malverde]

9. Ok

[gcomeau]

3. Umm... no.

Those insurance companies are already making that money. This is just changing how it's being routed.

[Jesus Malverde]

6. see my reply above.

[JoePhilly]

8. He's providing a title for a different article.

Apparently.

[RandoLoodie]

12. uhhhhhh

yeah! that's the ticket!!!

[NOVA_Dem]

4. This would happen with Single Payer too.

Companies are going to dump insurance plans left and right and pocket the savings for themselves and not share the profits with employees.

[JoePhilly]

10. A good article would get into the point you raise.

Most companies that provide medical benefits describe those as part of an employee's "total compensation" or something similar.

If the companies keep the difference, they will basically be cutting an employee's total compensation.

The potential upside is that having portable medical plans would allow one to switch jobs easier because it removes health coverage from the decision.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. Interesting Point

If I'm no longer job-locked because my health insurance is portable, if my current company dumps me into the exchange, they're giving me even more incentive to switch jobs.

Companies that want to keep their employees are going to keep the benefit -- or at very least provide a salary bump to employees who purchase their insurance on the exchanges.

[RandoLoodie]

13. Yes,

because this economy supports job hopping/lateral mobility/upward mobility. You can quit at lunch and have a new job by 2 pm.

Oh wait, that was when Clinton was president.

Most people are tied to their jobs because they are always one week away from homelessness.

The vast majority don't have a choice to "switch jobs" just because they have for profit insurance.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

20. Not sure of your point...

A lot of people have stayed in jobs they didn't particularly want because they either couldn't afford to lose their health care or had a pre-existing condition that made future insurance impossible to obtain. With insurance being portable, those employees are free to seek other jobs.

[JoePhilly]

14. I think the effect here is also tied to the UE rate.

When UE is low, employers have to compete for better employees ... when UE is high, employees have to compete for better jobs.

I think the GOP loves high UE for exactly this reason.

They want employees to be scared and desperate. Making health insurance portable increases employee freedom.

This is also part of why the GOP really hate single payer or Medicare for all.

[Bandit]

15. So I take it those Corporations have no intention of reimbursing their employees

for their cuts in pay. Remember Health Insurance provided by employers is part of the employees pay. When they take away the health Insurance they reduce employees pay. The Government will pick up part of that loss but not all. Employees are just getting the shaft and its the Large Corporations that are giving it to them.

[Nye Bevan]

16. Excellent news. Everyone should want health care to be separate from employment.

Single payer will never happen when a large number of people have the attitude "I don't need it, I get health insurance through my job". But when enough people have to buy their own coverage and pay a monthly check, wait to see how quickly they will start to favor a single payer system.

[pampango]

18. Great point. Plus I have seen many DU posts on how it is difficult for US companies to compete with

Canadian or European companies since our companies have to include the cost of employee health care into the cost of their products while those with national health care do not.

[Adrahil]

19. I agree....

in a world where more and more people work many jobs over their career, it makes no sense to tie health care coverage to employment. IMO, we SHOULD be moving away from an employer-based model.

[riderinthestorm]

17. De-coupling health care from employment is going to a painful first step

But a necessary one if we're ever going to get single payer.

More and more companies will drop health care coverage because it sucks for them to administer it. Not only is it expensive, its a minefield. Once the middle and upper managers get dropped and have to shop on the exchanges then we'll probably see a bigger push for single payer.

Those folks have been on the health care/insurance gravy train and once they get booted off their pretty decent, employer-based health plans and have to pay full freight on the market (without a subsidy since they'll make too much) that's when the fuss will happen.

But the short term pain is going to be tough for a while.