Universal Health Care in NJ
After the bruising battle over paid family leave, supporters of universal health care coverage were relieved when business lobbyists expressed enthusiasm for a legislative proposal to cover every resident in New Jersey. Perhaps proponents should be mindful of unintended consequences.
Most of the adult citizens who are uninsured are employed, primarily by a small business. According to federal statistics, 54.3% of New Jersey employers with fewer than 50 employees provide health care coverage. This represents about 135,550 employers that employ 737,500 people.
The biggest reason reported by small business for not offering health care benefits is expense. In 2007, the average amount that employers paid toward their workers’ health insurance premium rose 9.4% to $7,139. Small employers actually pay more because they do not enjoy the economy of scale derived from a large headcount.
Proponents of universal coverage believe that the small employers who currently provide coverage will likely continue to do so because their premium costs would stabilize over time as more people become insured. This assumes that as the insurance pool increases, premiums will drop. However, when the state reformed the small employer market in 1993, premiums have increased each year thereafter. In any event, research conducted by The Commonwealth Fund in 2002 indicates that even a 30% reduction in premiums would cause only about 15% of currently uninsured small employers to offer coverage.
It could be that the greatest risk of universal health care coverage is that small employers who are already providing health care insurance to their employees will simply choose not to sponsor a health care plan knowing that their employees will still be covered by a state–mandated plan. Advocates of universal coverage are taking a big leap of faith that small employers will not respond to this incentive to cut back or drop coverage entirely.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Having affordable healthcare coverage for everyone is a great idea. Note affordable. $300.00 a month is not affordable and what kind of coverage would the person get. I’m sure it would be minimal with high co-pays, high out of pocket expenses and no prescription coverage. The company I currently work for offers insurance but they only pay 50 % up to $400.00 out of their pocket. I currently pay $50.00 a week which is a lot of money and the coverage is ok. I agree that a lot of small companies will no longer offer health insurance if it becomes mandatory to get personal healthcare. I see the bills that come in for healthcare and small companies will save a lot of money if they don’t have to offer coverage. At this point this plan will not benefit the average person, it will burden them. Low income will still get medicaid and high income can afford the insurance . They need to come up with a different plan!!!!!