Now that the health-care reform bill will most likely be signed into law soon, many are trying to figure out what it means for them. The New York Times has plenty of graphs up to break it down, but a great blog called the Connecticut Employment Law Blog, run by Daniel Schwartz, explains what it means for many employers.
Those currently unable to get insurance on the individual market will likely benefit most, but the bill also helps those who are ostensibly offered insurance by their employers but find premium contributions so high they can't participate. Schwartz's explanation for employers highlights what it could mean for their employees.
For those employers that do offer coverage, you're not out of the woods just yet. Under the passed bill, if the employee finds the insurance too expensive because it would represent too much a percentage of their income, the employee may purchase insurance on the open market (or at least the marketplace of exchanges that the measure also establishes). The employer would then be required to provide a voucher to the employee on the percentage that the employer would have kicked in had the employee chose to continue with the employer-sponsored plan.
There is an additional provision for employers of 200 or more employees: If you, as an employer, do offer health insurance to your employees, then you will have to automatically enroll those employees in the plan.
While opponents wanted to portray the health-care reform bill as somehow anti-freedom, they ignored the fact that many people with insurance don't have any freedom to select their plans whatsoever. Many employers offer only one or two plans, and those plans are increasingly expensive. With these changes, workers can actually, finally, vote with their pocketbooks. And employers have to stop dumping all of the extra costs onto their employees.
-- Monica Potts
