Health Care Reform and Large Employers
The Associated Press reports that a bipartisan group of U.S. senators is closing in on a health care compromise that omits a requirement for large employers to offer coverage to their workers. Large employers would not be subject to a penalty if they declined to offer coverage to their workers. Instead, these businesses would be required to reimburse the government for part or all of any federal subsidies designed to help lower-income employees obtain insurance on their own.
The legislation in the House includes both a penalty and a requirement for large employers to share in the cost of covering employees.
Large employers typically offer some form of health care insurance to mostly full time employees. Breaking ranks with retail lobbyists, Wal-Mart, the biggest employer in the U.S., is in favor of an across-the-board employer mandate. The big retailer claims to be tired of subsidizing other retailers that do not offer insurance and whose employees receive charity care paid for by business taxes. Wal-Mart’s Statement on Health Care Reform.
