Report questions need for the employer mandate

The employer mandate provision within the Affordable Care Act has received much debate since the healthcare reform bill came into effect, but a new report from researchers at the Urban Institute found Americans may not see much difference in their health insurance benefits when the provision is finally implemented.

The report set out to determine if the employer mandate is actually needed for more people to receive health insurance benefits. With the employer mandate not set to take effect until 2015 for large employers and 2016 for smaller companies, there is still time to repeal the provision from the ACA. Researchers found almost as many employees (250.9 million) would have health insurance benefits if the mandate is taken out of the law, with only about 1 million more (251.1 million) receiving benefits if the employer requirement is completely put into effect.

However, the Wall Street Journal reported one official in the Obama administration doesn't think the report takes into considerations other aspects of the provision. For instance, repealing the mandate would end up costing the government about $46 billion between this year and 2023.