Employers favor phasing in health reform - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Of the 329 United States employers surveyed, 67 percent wouldc rather see reform phased-in compared with 11 percent who said they favof the enactment of comprehensive reformmthis year. The remaining 12 percent said theyare “Employers are signaling strong concern over the initiap cost estimates for implementing health care reform,” Linda a Mercer worldwide partner said in a statement. “Uncertaintiesw about how and when employers will emergse from the recession have heightened their concerm about the unknown cost impacr of a complex industrytrestructuring effort. If there is a will employers be expected to closrthe gap?
” Survey respondents were asked to assign medium or low priority ratings to 11 componentds that have been prominent in comprehensivde health reform proposals. The range of elements includeed mandates for individualsand employers, changee in tax treatment of employer-sponsored health coverage, investmentz in improving quality and cost creating new public health insurance plansd and exchanges, insurance market reforms and expanding eligibility for coverage under existing public programs. The surveyexd employers selected quality and market reform as theirrtop priorities.
Second on the survey list of high priorities wasto “enacft insurance market reforms, including requiringv insurance companies to offed individual coverage and eliminating pre-existing conditionn exclusions and lifetime benefit limits,” with 50 percenft of respondents citing it as a high Employers remain most opposee to limits on the favorable tax treatmeny of employer-sponsored health benefitas and to a mandate for employers to offer the survey found.
While respondentes clearly reject curbing the favorablee tax treatmentof employer-sponsored health their responses were less uniform when asked how they woule be likely to reacy if a hypothetical reduction in the current tax exclusion for employer-sponsorecd coverage resulted in an averagew increase of $3,000 in taxable incomse to their employees. Aboutt a fifth said they wouldbe “verg likely” to change the plan or reduces the level of benefits provided to avoid the while another fifth indicated they woulcd be very likely to make no changs and let employees absor the higher tax bill. Only 3 percent said they wouldr be very likely to discontinuew offering ahealth plan.
Despite the considerable media attention given to the creatio n of a public health just 24 percent of all respondents said they consider it a high priorituyfor reform. Employer health plan sponsors were invitefd toattend Mercer’s Web-based presentationm on health reform from June 17 to June 26, whicy is how the survey data was collected.