For The Truth About ObamaCare, Just Follow The Money

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Investors Business Daily:

ObamaCare: Yet another study — this one a survey of America's largest firms — shows why employers will drop health coverage for their workers once they do the math and see how much they can save.

It's no longer news that President Obama isn't even close to keeping his promise to preserve the employer-paid health coverage enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans. But that fact bears repeating, especially since it keeps getting confirmed by new data.

The latest piece of evidence comes from a confidential survey of Fortune 100 firms. It's a Republican report, produced by the House Ways and Means Committee's majority staff, but Democrats will be kidding themselves if they dismiss it as a mere partisan screed. That's because the survey's central finding makes objective sense:

Under ObamaCare, these large employers can save serious money by dropping coverage. Among the 71 firms responding, the estimated savings come to $28.6 billion in 2014 alone and $422.4 billion through 2023. This is despite the law's penalty of $2,000 per full-time employee paid by companies that decide not to pay for coverage. The net savings per dropped employee would be $4,821, on an after-tax basis, in 2014.

The companies were not asked what they intend to do, but their financial incentives are clear. The new survey also jibes with other research suggesting that many firms would shift their covered workers to tax-subsidized insurance exchanges.

A 2011 McKinsey & Co. survey said 30% of employers "definitely or probably" would end coverage. The Congressional Budget Office, which initially played down the potential shift to the exchanges, said in March that up to 20 million could be dropped by employer plans.