S&P Capital IQ Predicts Up To 144 Million Americans Will Lose Their Employer Health Plans

If you think the 5.8 million people who lost their plans because of Obamacare this year is bad, you "ain't seen nothing yet!

The nation’s employers could save a whopping $3.25 trillion over the next decade by shifting most of their employees from workplace health plans to the public exchanges. That translates to an estimate that up to 90% of all Americans with an employer plan, up to 144 million people who work in companies with 50+ employees will be forced on to the Obamacare exchanges.

That’s according to an S&P Capital IQ report (embedded below) which warns:

the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will result in profound, and possibly unintended, consequences for corporate America, the average U.S. employee, and more broadly, the entire U.S. economy. 

And predicts:

"individuals could largely be extricated from employer-based plans and contributions. Also, premium costs will rise for some individuals if they do not qualify for government subsidies.

A new book by one of the key architects of the President’s health care law, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel predicts, as a result of the law the proportion of private-sector workers who receive health care from employers will fall below 20 percent by 2025. According to the New York Times,

 “That scale of change would dwarf what took place last fall, when a political firestorm erupted over President Obama’s ‘if you like your plan you can keep it’ pledge.”

That’s because the number of Americans who currently receive coverage from their employer is 32 times larger than the 5 million who lost their coverage in the first year of the President’s health care law.

The report warns:

At the moment, any drastic changes to employer-provided health care benefits would likely be frowned upon by employees and the voting public at large. Neither lawmakers nor the White House originally anticipated the idea that the ACA could provide corporations with an enormous subsidy to earnings. However, once a few notable companies start to depart from their traditional approach to health care benefits, it's likely that a substantial number of firms could quickly follow suit.
 
The result would be a dramatic departure from the legacy employer/employee payroll deduction benefit provision relationship, and could quickly be the modern day equivalent of companies  moving from defined benefit pension plans to defined contribution programs, as mentioned above.

This is another example of Obamacare doing the opposite of what was promised. Americans will be forced to pay the higher costs for inferior coverage and doctors network offered by the Obamacare exchange plans, while big business will get higher profits.

But of course he will Obama will be out of office an probably sitting on a Hawaiian Beach, drinking those cocktails with umbrellas ignoring the pain suffered by the rest of America thanks to his plan.

Holy Cow by Jeffrey Dunetz