Fortune: AT&T, Verizon, Others Considered Dropping Health Benefits
Fortune magazine is reporting that internal documents requested by Congress show that four companies, AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar and Deere are "weighing the costs and benefits" of dropping insurance coverage for employees and retirees, "in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government."
"AT&T produced a PowerPoint slide entitled 'Medical Cost Versus No Coverage Penalty.' A document prepared for Verizon by consulting firm Hewitt Resources stated .... 'employers may consider exiting the health care market and send employees to the Exchanges.' (Under the new bill, employees who lose their coverage will purchase health care through state-run exchanges.)" The article also speculates about other effects of the health law on employer coverage (Tully, 5/5).