TheLagerLad wrote:

Goose wrote:

I worry. Yes, intuitively, it seems better for an individual to decide what coverage they want rather than the employer. However, large employers bring a large number of customers to an insurance company, and thus have historically have had the clout necessary to get better rates, better coverage, acceptance of pre-existing conditions etc. The government, thru medicare has the ultimate clout, deciding for themselves how much they will pay providers.

Individuals have not had these advantages in the past, leaving some of us better off with employer based coverage. Now, maybe the ACA will remove the things I have mentioned above as issues. Maybe.

I would think insurance companies would prefer to keep their large clients as well. Would an Aetna, for example, want to lose a Fortune 500 company with 20,000 insured employees to the open market? I think not.


 

It is not nesessairily the fact that Aetna and the like would loose out. It could work exactly as Medicare Advantage does today. Aetna and all the rest of the big players are competing for your business. It really depends how they structure what would follow on. If all it does is take the company out of selecting your insurer but still gives you bucks to choose any insurer you choose, perhaps it could be a good thing in the long run. It will mean that there will be a lot a work to do on the individuals part to compare the offererings (as is the case with Medicare Advantage choices today from many vendors). 


 

TheLagerLad wrote:

tennyson wrote:

TheLagerLad wrote:

I would think insurance companies would prefer to keep their large clients as well. Would an Aetna, for example, want to lose a Fortune 500 company with 20,000 insured employees to the open market? I think not.


 

It is not nesessairily the fact that Aetna and the like would loose out. It could work exactly as Medicare Advantage does today. Aetna and all the rest of the big players are competing for your business. It really depends how they structure what would follow on. If all it does is take the company out of selecting your insurer but still gives you bucks to choose any insurer you choose, perhaps it could be a good thing in the long run. It will mean that there will be a lot a work to do on the individuals part to compare the offererings (as is the case with Medicare Advantage choices today from many vendors). 


 

I disagree.In some situations, everyone would lose out. Take a company like FedEx. 300,000 employees. Let's say out of those 300,000 employees, half of them are eligible for company provided insurance. According to FedEx's Glassdoor profile, (which is like a review site for companies) they have Cigna and Anthem Blue Cross. Accoriding to the site, employees are happy with their insurance, it's cheap, FedEx gets a big fat tax write off and Anthem and Cigna have a whole lot of customers.

I can't see that going away.

I do believe that we will see smaller companies get rid of employer based health insurance over time with the cost of premiums skyrocketing. And that may not be a bad thing IF the ACA removes the barricades to allowing insurance companies to provide a larger portfolio of plans.

I don't see that the big companies will not do the same thing, It might just take a little longer. IF this culture changes, the big boys will jump on board also. The feds can still structure that any monies that they dole out IF used for employee insurance is still tax deductible. I see ALL companies wanting to get out of the middle. We first saw it with disappearing pensions in favor of 401Ks. This is along the same lines.