In a not so shocking news report the other day, 1100 pages of internal documents from four of the largest employers in the country show that these employers are calculating the costs involved in dropping their group health insurance and paying the associated government fines instead of paying for their existing group medical policies. https://higginscompanies.com/faq/group-health-insurance-faq%e2%80%99s/
Senator Henry Waxman as you may remember asked these employers for the documents. His goal was to scare the employers into keeping their mouths shut about the downsides of ObamaCare. After reading the documents he quickly canceled the hearings he scheduled. It became painfully obvious that it was in the best financial interest of the employers and their shareholders to drop the employee group health insurance and dump the millions of uninsured on the government. This will cost the government at least $250 billion more a year, and includes the money paid in fines by the companies.
No one is really surprised by this. It has been a well-known secret that the main goal of ObamaCare was to put health insurance companies out of business so that the government could swoop in and save the day with a single payer system. Of course this now means that many will not be able to keep their insurance and doctors as promised by the President.
Companies have another reason to drop their group health insurance. Having to insure children up to the age of 26 will cost another $20 million a year for Caterpillar alone. Paying the fines instead would be a fraction of this amount. These large employers will drop the group medical insurance plans and make it up to their employees with a pay raise, yet still have billions left over for the shareholder. And what is wrong with this? Nothing! A corporation has a legal, fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits for the shareholder. If there is a cheaper way of doing business they must act upon it.
One way or another it will be the taxpayer that will be stuck with a government run health insurance plan in the end, and the costs involved will make today’s premium rates seem like a deal.
Michael Higgins
602.405.8769
An Arizona health insurance broker.