President Obama argued that his push for comprehensive health care legislation wasn’t a distraction from his economic agenda, but rather one of its key components. In March 2009, less than two months into his presidency, he noted that health care costs constituted “one of the greatest threats not just to the well-being of our families and the prosperity of our businesses, but to the very foundation of our economy. …” And he was correct. Unfortunately, the legislation he eventually signed, with its mountain of new regulations and taxes, is only adding to that burden. A new study of 368 midsize to large companies by Towers Watson, an employee benefits consulting firm, shows that businesses are already scrambling to adjust. The study builds on a similar survey by the firm last year that found 90 percent of businesses expected the law to increase their health care costs.
In the survey released this week, 88 percent of businesses said they were taking steps to control costs in response to the law and to find a way to avoid the excise tax on high-value health care plans set to kick in by 2018.
