A new study by American Health Policy Institute finds that the president’s signature legislation, Obamacare, will cost large employers “$4,800 to $5,900 per employee.” The study, called “The Cost of the Affordable Care Act to Large Employers,” is available here.
Catholic Online reported:
Big business says that they will definitely be on the losing end when it comes to implementing health care reform. The American Health Policy Institute, in a confidential survey of 100 large employers. Businesses with 10,000 or more employees were asked what costs they expect to incur from Obamacare over the next decade.
Factoring in the health care law’s added mandates, fees, and regulatory burdens, employers anticipate cost hikes between $163 million and $200 million in 2016, many expect a 4.3 percent increase. Employers will be paying 8.4 percent in 2023 which is more than “what they would otherwise be spending” for their employees’ health care.
The total cost of Obamacare in the coming 10 years to all large American employers is estimated to be from $151 billion to $186 billion, according to the study.
“This study is a c-suite diagnosis of how [the Affordable Care Act] ACA is shaping large employer behavior,” Tevi Troy, president of the American Health Policy Institute, said.
“We don’t know yet precisely how employers will react, but the study shows that employers will have to make real changes or incur heavy costs, which means that the ACA will have a significant impact on those in employer-sponsored health care.”
While some argue that “lead to more economical use of health care dollars,” the study questions whether the increase in health costs could bring the “end of the employer-sponsored health care system.”
“If the law leads to significant cost increases for [employers], this would affect the behavior of employers, which could in turn affect how-and even whether-they provide health care for their employees,” the study said.
Health care costs have already been increasing for large businesses. Numerous studies suggest that Obamacare is adding to employers’ burdens.
A report by the Urban Institute found that Obamacare increased large employer health costs by $11.8 billion in 2012, and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the excise tax on high-cost plans would cost $32 billion from 2018 to 2019.
