Majority of Americans Support Forcing Employers to Provide Health Care

May 10, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Americans are willing to support initiatives that require employers to provide health insurance coverage, but are less willing to support income tax increases to cover more people under Medicaid and Medicare, according to a recent Harris Interactive/Wall Street Journal survey.

According to the survey, three in four respondents said they support various initiatives to expand health insurance coverage – including employer mandates, government subsidies for the uninsured and tax credits to help individuals afford health insurance. But only 26% say they would pay more taxes to do so.

More than three-quarters (76%) support a measure requiring employers to provide coverage for all their workers.

The survey showed that forcing small employers to provide health insurance is worth the risk of making the cost too great for them to stay in business for 47%, compared to 53% who said the cost was not worth it.

These are some of the results of an online survey of 2,402 U.S. adults, ages 18 and older, conducted by Harris Interactive between April 13 and 17, 2007 for The Wall Street Journal Online’s Health Industry Edition.

For the full survey results go here .

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