Large Employers Say Obamacare Will Cost Them $5,350 More Per Employee

From ijreview.com
by Caroline Schaeffer 
Stethoscope Laying on Stacks of Hundred Dollar Bills with Narrow Depth of Field.
 
The American Health Policy Institute conducted a survey of more than 100 large employers – those with 10,000 or more employees – to find what effect the Affordable Care Act would have on their business. The findings have some troubling news for the future of economic prosperity in America.

The first-of-its-kind study asked employers to look only at costs incurred by passage of Obamacare, and does not take into account other factors that will influence their long-term business plan, such as the aging of the workforce or the rate of health care inflation.

Over the next decade, the study found that:

  • The cost of the ACA to large U.S. employers (10,000 or more employees) is estimated to be between $4,800 to $5,900 per employee
  • These large employers will see overall ACA-related cost hikes of between $163 million and $200 million per employer, or an increase of 4.3% in 2016 and 8.4% in 2023 over and above what they would otherwise be spending.
  • The total cost of the ACA to all large U.S. employers over the next 10 years is estimated to be from $151 billion to $186 billion.

Among the findings of how this will affect the future of employment, some employers speculate that these added costs could end employer-sponsored health care  system altogether. Regardless of what will actually happen, the study acknowledges that these speculations will cause many employers to react in advance to their projections: affecting how many people they hire, and what their salaries are.

The survey notes that another study done by Mercer has found that employers are already taking steps to help mitigate costs which will place an enormous financial burden on employees.

  • 80% of employers have or have considered raising deductibles.
  • 68% have or are considering consumer-directed health plans with health savings accounts.
  • 44% have already taken steps to unbundle dental and medical coverage.
  • 34% are moving to higher-performance networks.
  • 33% are considering dropping high-cost plans and 20% have already done so.

Obamacare has already affected the future of business in America, and it will only continue to do so as we learn more and more about it. These companies which have provided jobs for literally millions of Americans will suffer financially, and will have to pass the costs onto workers and their families.

This so called “job-lock” that Democrats keep passing around is their ridiculous attempt to spin the huge employment drop we are likely to see as the direct effect of President Obama’s signature law. This study is a dire warning to the future of job growth and economic prosperity in America.