Survey: Large employers not likely to drop health plans in 2014

Most large employers are not likely to discontinue their health benefit plans after state health insurance exchanges are implemented in 2014, according to a survey by Mercer.

Among employers surveyed, only 9% of those with 500 or more employees and 4% of those with 5,000 or more employees said they are likely to drop health insurance coverage after the implementation of health insurance exchanges under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Mercer said in a report on its 2011 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans.

Those numbers are up slightly from last year, when 6% of employers with 500 or more employees and about 3% of employers with 10,000 or more employees indicated they were likely to drop coverage.

By contrast, 19% of small employers—those with 10 to 499 employees—indicated they might drop coverage, down 1 percentage point from 20% in 2010, Mercer said.

The survey also showed the small increase in large employers indicating they may drop coverage after 2014 is too small to be a trend.