Opinion- National: Small Business Owners Not Expected to Opt Out of Health Care Reform

Only a few employers will take advantage of rules allowing some small businesses to avoid pending health reform measures, rendering the rules relatively obsolete and minimizing their impact on health insurance costs, according to new analysis and simulations conducted by health policy researchers.

Most small employers aren’t expected to take advantage of rules that would allow them to avoid upcoming health care reform measures. But that could change if the rules are rewritten to extend the opt-out offer to more companies, according to the study by RAND Corporation, a nonprofit policy research group. By letting more employers keep their old plans, experts say the government would drive up premiums offered to small employers through health insurance exchanges and consequently slash enrollment in those programs.

“We found that keeping the rules as they are written, particularly the limitations on maintaining a grandfathered plan, will be essential to keeping premiums affordable in small business insurance exchanges,” Christine Eibner, the study’s lead author and RAND senior economist, said in a statement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-small-business/post/small-business-owners-not-expected-to-opt-out-of-health-care-reform/2012/02/09/gIQAWf9R2Q_blog.html

Hat tip: Washington Post/ On Small Business/ J.D. Harrison