Employers Drop Employee Health Insurance...then what?

-I don't really understand this situation. News reports coming out today are saying that 1/3 of employers would stop offering the health insurance that many people (including myself) are paying $250 a month for. Would I then be earning that money I would be devoting towards insurance as extra income? And also, say I have no health insurance through my employer...what happens if I need prescriptions, or to go to the emergency room, or if I need surgery. What are the costs going to be like. (I live in NY...no idea if that matters, but just wanted to mention it)



Thanks.First, the news report is that ONE study found that they would stop offering it, even though several other more reliable studies said the exact opposite.



Second, it said it would happen in 2014, not now.



Third, starting in 2014, you will be required to have health insurance, whether or not your employer offers it. So, if your employer does not offer it, then you will have to use the $250 each month to buy health insurance, on your own, not through your employer, and you will use that health insurance to get prescriptions, surgery, etc. The only difference will be that the insurance will not be through your employer.



In other states, where insurance companies currently have the ability to refuse to insure someone whom they consider high risk due to preexisting medical conditions, the cost will be very different from now. In New York State, because they are already required to insure anyone willing to pay for insurance, the cost will be like what it is now.
Although people would like employers to increase salaries to compensate many employers may not do so. Some employers will increase salaries to retain employees.



What you do is purchase an individual policy. However, NY has some of the highest rates in the country and you're not going to find insurance for what you are currently paying.



This will leave many people uninsured, which will then give the government a reason to bring back the exchanges, which is what they wanted in the first place. You'll then have to go to a DMV style office to get your insurance coverage.
If you're paying $250 per month for health insurance from your employer then you wouldn't pay $250 per month to your employer if they stopped carrying health insurance. You'd go buy your own plan.
That is just one pundit's opinion - not "fact."