Today in Politico, Fortune Magazine reported that AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar and John Deere are considering dropping health insurance benefits for their employees and bearing the brunt of a federal fine for doing so.
The Politico article did say that the Fortune report wasn’t clear if the companies were simply doing an assessment of dropping coverage or actually planning on making it happen. AT&T, Caterpillar and John Deere declined to comment on the matter.
After the Fortune report, Verizon has since said they will not cancel their group health insurance plans for employees.
Detractors of health reform had warned that Americans with employer-sponsored coverage could be faced with losing their coverage, even though President Obama promised that citizens who liked their current coverage could keep it.
If these companies were to drop coverage, they would pay a $2,000 penalty for every employee; even if some receive federal subsides to purchase their own health insurance.