A new study presented as part of a Cornell University symposium finds that “pay or play” laws, which require employers to provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fine, will reduce employment for the least skilled members of the work force.
Healthcare Reform: The Economics of Employer ‘Pay or Play’ Mandates, sponsored by the Employment Policies Institute and authored by Cornell University economists Richard Burkhauser and Kosali Simon, uses federal Current Population Survey data to calculate that for every 100 newly insured employees resulting from a pay-or-play law, 10 low-wage employees will lose their jobs.
Pay-or-play laws are increasingly being proposed as a solution to America’s healthcare crisis. At least a dozen state legislatures, including California, Illinois, Maine, and Minnesota, have seriously considered instituting a pay-or-play mandate. And all three Democratic presidential frontrunners--Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards--include a version of pay-or-play in their healthcare reform platforms. Download the report.
