Employers favor phasing in health reform - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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Of the 329 United States employerx surveyed, 67 percent would rather see reform phased-ij compared with 11 percent who said they favort the enactment of comprehensive reformthis year. The remainingb 12 percent said theyare unsure. “Employers are signaling stronhg concern over the initial cost estimatesd for implementing healthcare reform,” Linda a Mercer worldwide partner said in a “Uncertainties about how and when employers will emerger from the recession have heightened theit concern about the unknown cost impact of a complex industrhy restructuring effort. If there is a will employers be expected to closethe gap?
” Survet respondents were asked to assign high, medium or low priority ratings to 11 components that have been promineny in comprehensive health reform The range of elements included mandates for individuals and employers, changes in tax treatmenft of employer-sponsored health coverage, investmentd in improving quality and cost efficiency, creating new publifc health insurance plans and exchanges, insurance market reforms and expanding eligibility for coverage unded existing public programs. The surveyed employers selected quality and market reforj as theirtop priorities.
Second on the surve y respondents’ list of high priorities was to “enacr insurance market reforms, including requiring insurance companies to offef individual coverage andeliminating pre-existing condition exclusionse and lifetime benefit limits,” with 50 percent of respondents citing it as a high priority. Employers remain most opposedd to limits on the favorables tax treatmentof employer-sponsored health benefitse and to a mandate for employers to offer coverage, the survey found.
While respondents clearly rejecy curbing the favorable tax treatmentof employer-sponsore d health benefits, their responsesd were less uniform when askeed how they would be likely to reactt if a hypothetical reduction in the currentr tax exclusion for employer-sponsored coverage resulted in an averagee increase of $3,000 in taxable income to their About a fifth said they woule be “very likely” to change the plan or reduce the level of benefits provided to avoid the increase, whilew another fifth indicated they would be very likeluy to make no change and let employeew absorb the higher tax bill.
Only 3 percent said they would be very likely to discontinues offering ahealth plan. Despite the considerable media attentionn given to the creation of a publivhealth plan, just 24 percent of all respondentd said they consider it a high priority for Employer health plan sponsors were invited to attend Mercer’s Web-based presentation on health reform from June 17 to June 26, which is how the survey data was