Employers Still Want to Provide Insurance

A recent article on the health insurance reform suggests that big employers still prefer to be the primary providers of health insurance for their workers.

According to the article, published by the non-profit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) they also seek to find solutions to rising costs.

Interestingly, some of the GOP candidates for president have advocated shifting tax policy so employers have less responsibility for providing insurance to employees. John McCain's health insurance reform plan calls for "reform[ing] the tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance, and provide all individuals with a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families) to increase incentives for insurance coverage."

Another interesting highlight from the EBRI executive summary of the article:

"Employers remain ambivalent about consumer-driven health plans—Although growing, these high-deductible plans remain a small source of coverage in the health insurance market, and many employers do not view them as the solution to ever-rising costs. Some in the business sector argue neither consumer-driven health plans nor single-payer (government) universal coverage is the answer."