My opinion is that the ACA employer mandate will be repealed. Why? Besides
the immense unpopularity of the employer mandate by business owners, market
pressures should continue to motivate employers to provide health care for
the purposes of attracting and retaining employees and staying competitive
in the workforce marketplace. I’m not sure the egalitarian tenets of ACA
are viable in a capitalistic society like ours.
I predict ACA as a whole will be gutted and / or die a natural death with
little or no compliance enforcement. I mean, come one, look at all of the
unnecessary red tape and reporting that ACA has created. Most of which is
counterproductive, punitive and a drain on productivity.
Millions of individual insureds will not lose their coverage, but insurers
will again offer individual plans as alternatives to the exchanges. I do
believe that the health insurance plans will be underwritten and that
pre-existing conditions will be a component of the underwriting process.
This most recent “experiment” has shown that with no underwriting, high
risk insureds “game the system” and often only sign up for health plans
when they need health care and then drop the plans when they measure the
plans to be too expensive. Young people haven’t signed up for the exchanges
in large enough numbers resulting in exorbitant premium increases fueled by
“no spreading of the risk.” (See related article)
ACA is crashing and burning as I write.
Really, individual responsibility needs to again be the primary motivation
behind individuals insuring themselves, not the threat of a $29.95 fine.
Employers for the most part will continue to take care of their employees
by providing health care coverage that for the most part covers over 90% of
medical expenses. When seeking employment often times employees don’t weigh
the value of “having benefits.” Now prospective employees hopefully will
have their eyes wide open.
It is getting clearer every day that “cradle to grave” entitlements aren’t
what working Americans want. They want jobs. They want to be able to
support their family, be a part of a prosperous industry, have pride in
their work and have aspirations that they can pass on to their children…
and not leave their children with a $20 trillion debt.
Isn’t American a great place!!!!
