While employer-sponsored plans are the most common source of health insurance coverage for Americans of working age, the implementation of healthcare reforms could change the extent to which this is true.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes a provision which mandates that companies with 50 or more employees either provide health insurance benefits to their workers or pay a penalty that may cost as much as $3,000 per worker. Some employers may believe that paying the penalties is a worthwhile trade-off as they become increasingly concerned with the growth of healthcare expenses, according to the Huffington Post.
Research by one HR and employee benefit plan administration firm suggests that a recent trend in which employers play a diminishing role in providing access to coverage may continue. The percentage of employers who sponsor plans for their workers dropped from 68 to 60 percent in the decade between 2001 and 2011.
Employees of smaller companies are more likely to lose their coverage than those working for larger firms, according to researchers. Because they are more likely to lack insurance now, that suggests the difference between working at companies of different sizes may grow. Some firms are offering higher salaries to employees who choose not to purchase coverage, so overall compensation may not be affected as much as the insurance market changes would indicate on their own.
