A Business Group Reacts Strangely To The Rise Of Private Health Exchanges

This blog has discussed the rise of private exchanges for health benefits, describing them as “getting ready for individual health insurance to be the standard.” A private exchange allows an employer to make a defined contribution to employees’ health benefits, which they can use to choose one of many policies within the exchange.

The strangest news is the reaction of the National Business Coalition on Health to its own survey of employers:

In a departure from other industry polls, employers said they plan to reject private exchanges as a way to control rising health care costs, according to a new survey of more than 330 employers…

In fact, the survey reports that 32 percent are considering moving to one within three to five years, up from 5 percent today. Describing growth of over 600 percent as a “plan to reject” is surely inaccurate.

Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.