One of the themes from Republican presidential candidate John McCain is that Democratic candidate Barack Obama will hurt businesses by adding an employer mandate on health insurance coverage.
It’s true that Senator Obama wants to “mandate ” employer coverage by giving businesses the choice of providing health benefits or paying their workers to buy their own plans.
But Senator Obama hasn’t yet made clear how much businesses will have to pay if they don’t provide health insurance.
Experts can’t really agree on how much the amount might be, but best guesses put the number between 3 and 7 percent of a businesses’ payroll.
Even 3 percent scares most employers.
“If they do that, prices go up and employment goes down because nobody can absorb that, ” one business owner in Massachusetts, if the amount nears 6 percent.
Economists estimate that some 224,000 workers in the U.S. will be hit with lower wages or be laid off under this plan, according to The New York Times.
In stark contrast to the Obama plan, Senator McCain would make it attractive for businesses to drop health benefits altogether. Under McCain’s plan, group health insurance would no longer be tax-exempt — which means employer-sponsored coverage would be taxed for the first time in U.S. history.
But McCain will give individuals $5,000 in tax credits to help people buy their own coverage in the private market.
Mandate versus no health benefits costs.
We’re going to go out on a limb and say employers might be a bit more aligned with Senator McCain on the health insurance issue…