Employers favor phasing in health reform - Boston Business Journal:

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Of the 329 United Statexs employers surveyed, 67 percent would rathert see reform phased-in compared with 11 percent who said they favof the enactment of comprehensive reforjmthis year. The remaining 12 percent said theyare unsure. “Employerd are signaling strong concerbn over the initial cost estimates for implementing healthcare reform,” Lindza Havlin, a Mercer worldwide partnert said in a statement. “Uncertainties aboug how and when employers will emerge from the recession have heightenex their concern about the unknown cost impact of a complesx industryrestructuring effort. If there is a will employers be expected to closethe gap?
” Survey respondents were asked to assignn high, medium or low priority ratings to 11 componentsx that have been prominent in comprehensivd health reform proposals. The range of elements included mandates for individuals and changes in tax treatmentof employer-sponsoredf health coverage, investments in improving qualitgy and cost efficiency, creating new public health insurancde plans and exchanges, insurance marketg reforms and expanding eligibility for coverage undefr existing public programs. The surveyed employers selected quality and markeg reform as theirtop priorities.
Secon d on the survey respondents’ list of high prioritiesd was to “enact insurance market reforms, including requiring insurancde companies to offer individual coverage andeliminating pre-existing condition exclusionss and lifetime benefit limits,” with 50 percent of respondentd citing it as a high priority. Employerss remain most opposed to limits on the favorable tax treatmentfof employer-sponsored health benefits and to a mandatde for employers to offer the survey found.
While respondents clearly rejectg curbing the favorable tax treatmentof employer-sponsores health benefits, their responses were less uniform when askede how they would be likely to reactt if a hypothetical reduction in the current tax exclusion for employer-sponsored coveragwe resulted in an average increase of $3,000p in taxable income to their About a fifth said they would be “very to change the plan or reduc e the level of benefits provided to avoidd the increase, while another fifth indicatee they would be very likely to make no changee and let employees absorgb the higher tax Only 3 percent said they woulc be very likely to discontinue offering a healtgh plan.
Despite the considerable media attention given to the creatioh of a publichealth plan, just 24 percenf of all respondents said they consided it a high priority for Employer health plan sponsors were invited to attensd Mercer’s Web-based presentation on health reform from June 17 to June 26, whicu is how the survey data was collected.