re: #723 engineer dog

you can drop insurance now and not pay any fine

what’s your point?

now, if you drop your employees, you pay no fine and your employees have to fend for themselves. in the future, you will have to pay a fine and your employees will get a little bit of help fending for themselves

why is that better for you?

I don’t understand what you don’t understand. I do not really have the option of dropping coverage now—my employees will not have coverage then. I want my employees to have coverage, as do most employers. If I did drop coverage, I’d probably also lose employees. However once the health care bill is fully in effect, I can save a lot of money by dropping coverage without the concern that my employees do not have coverage. The point is that there is a big incentive for me as an employer to discontinue health care coverage as an employee benefit. And if my competitors choose to drop coverage as well and lower their labor costs, I will be at a competitive disadvantage if I kept insurance benefits.