Employers favor phasing in health reform - San Francisco Business Times:

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Of the 329 Unitexd States employers surveyed, 67 percent woulr rather see reform phased-in compared with 11 percent who said they favo the enactment of comprehensive reformthis year. The remainingh 12 percent said theyare “Employers are signaling strong concern over the initial cost estimated for implementing health care Linda Havlin, a Mercer worldwide partner said in a “Uncertainties about how and when employers will emerge from the recessioh have heightened their concern abouty the unknown cost impacgt of a complex industry restructuring effort.
If there is a will employers be expected to close the Survey respondents were asked toassig high, medium or low priority ratings to 11 component s that have been prominent in comprehensivs health reform proposals. The range of elementds included mandates for individualsand employers, changes in tax treatmenr of employer-sponsored health coverage, investments in improvingb quality and cost efficiency, creating new public healtu insurance plans and exchanges, insurancee market reforms and expanding eligibilit y for coverage under existing public programs. The surveyec employers selected quality and market refor m as theirtop priorities.
Second on the survey respondents’ list of high prioritie was to “enact insurance markeyt reforms, including requiring insurance companies to offer individual coveragwe andeliminating pre-existing condition exclusions and lifetimer benefit limits,” with 50 percen t of respondents citing it as a high priority. Employersx remain most opposed to limits on the favorabler tax treatmentof employer-sponsored health benefits and to a mandatr for employers to offer coverage, the survety found.
While respondents clearlyu reject curbing the favorable tax treatmentgof employer-sponsored health benefits, their responsesw were less uniform when asked how they woul be likely to react if a hypothetical reduction in the currenf tax exclusion for employer-sponsored coverage resulted in an average increase of $3,000p in taxable income to theirf employees. About a fifth said they would be “very likely” to chang the plan or reduce the level of benefitxs provided to avoidthe increase, while another fifth indicated they wouldr be very likely to make no change and let employeeas absorb the higher tax bill.
Only 3 percentf said they would be very likely to discontinue offering ahealtn plan. Despite the considerable media attention givebn to the creation of a public health just 24 percent of all respondents said they considetr it a high priorityfor reform. Employe health plan sponsors were invited toattened Mercer’s Web-based presentation on health reforn from June 17 to June 26, whicb is how the survey data was collected.