Employers favor keeping subsidies to help pay for health insurance
Few employers are in favor of eliminating federal government subsidies to help people afford coverage through the health insurance exchanges, according to a survey from Mercer.
On March 4, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the King v. Burwell case, in which the justices will decide if federal subsidies are legal. The ruling is not expected until late June.
The Mercer survey took place in January and included 568 companies: 28 percent had fewer than 500 employees, 48 percent had between 500 and 4,999 employees and the rest had at least 5,000 employees.
Of the participants, only 27 percent said they favored disallowing federal subsidies for individual coverage in states that do not operate their own health insurance exchange. In addition, 31 percent said they opposed subsidies and 42 percent had no opinion.
“If the Supreme Court disallows the federal subsidies, the impact will be felt beyond the millions of individuals currently receiving subsidies,” Tracy Watts, senior partner and Mercer’s U.S. health reform leader, said in a news release. “Regulators have been challenged to provide timely guidance on the ACA requirements thus far, and this big of a change would likely take precedence over all else. Employers are still awaiting guidance on many technical issues and need time to plan thoughtful strategies, especially when it comes to the excise tax.”
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.