Finance Committee Makes Flawed Employer Requirement in Health Reform Bill Still More Problematic

This updated Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report analyzes the potential impacts of the employer mandate in the Senate Finance Committee health reform bill.

From the Report:

Employers with more than 50 employees that do not offer health coverage would have to pay the cost of subsidies provided to full-time employees who purchase coverage through the new health insurance exchanges and qualify for subsidies because their family income is below 400 percent of the poverty line, currently $88,000 for a family of four.

Many employers with more than 50 employees who do offer coverage also would be subject to the requirement. Workers who would have to pay more than 10 percent of their income for their share of the premium costs under their employer’s plan could go into the exchange, as could workers whose employer offers a health plan that has an actuarial value of less than 65 percent and workers who fall into a category of employees that does not qualify for their employer’s plan, such as workers who have not yet worked a sufficient number of months to be eligible for the plan (in firms that impose such waiting periods). Employers would then be billed for those workers who receive subsidies because their family incomes were below 400 percent of the poverty line.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2009) Finance Committee makes flawed employer requirement in health reform bill still more problematic. Robert Greenstein and Judith Solomon.

Full report: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2921