Survey: Employer insurance business safe with reform law

Only 1 in 10 employers plan to drop insurance plans, according to a Deloitte study
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As healthcare consulting firms try to predict whether the reform law will cause employers to stop offering health insurance, the latest survey findings published Tuesday indicate payers won't lose much business come 2014.

The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey of 560 companies currently offering insurance between February and April found that only 9 percent of employers will drop coverage. It also found that 81 percent of employers said they would continue providing insurance benefits and another 10 percent said they weren't sure about their plans, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Those findings conflict with a June 2011 survey from McKinsey, which found that 30 percent of employers would stop offering health insurance after 2014 but concur with an August 2011 Towers Watson survey that also found only one in 10 companies will drop coverage.

However, almost one-third of employers said they would consider dropping insurance plans if they're required under the reform law to provide better benefits than they currently offer, if high-cost health plans are taxed as scheduled in 2018 or if they determine that penalties for not providing insurance are less expensive than improving benefits, Fox Business reported.

Deloitte also concluded that smaller employers are more likely to drop coverage, with 13 percent of companies with 50 to 100 workers saying they would end insurance, reported The Hill's Healthwatch.

To learn more:
- see the Wall Street Journal article (subscription required)
- check out the Fox Business article
- read The Hill's Healthwatch article

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