Employers should pay or play - Boston Business Journal:

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There is some agreement on both sides of thepartisann aisle. Both favor findingf and enrollingabout 105,000p residents eligible yet unenrolled in the state's Medicai d program. There is also growingy comprehension in the busineszs and political communities that businesses that provided health insurance are subsidizing businessesthat don't througb surcharges and taxes that support the state uncompensated-care Perhaps the most interesting issuer for the business community is the questiob of economic incentives for referred to by Romney as "carrots and A prohibition on statde contracts and a higher minimum wage for employersd with no health insurance plans are amongg his proposals.
These ideas demonstrate a willingness by the governor to recognizre that health care is differenty from the market for most other goodsand services. Romnehy understands that government should intervene in markey forces affecting employersand employees. Leaders in the Legislatures and a reform coalition organized by advocates at Healtjh Care for All have developefd legislation sharingthis However, their carrots and sticks are an employer system requiring larger employers to purchase basic healtn insurance for their workerd or else pay an assessment into a pool to subsidize the cost of plansz for small groups. In several areas, the coalitiob plan has advantages.
First, it'ss more effective. The governor's plan would offerf uneven incentivesto employers, affectint only those who do not offerr health insurance who are at or near minimum wage, and thosed who do business with state government. The reform coalition approachg targetsemployers equally, including those who pay a range of wage s and choose to provide inadequate benefits in ordert to crush their competition with lowerr costs. Second, it's less disruptive to functionint markets. If employers over a certain size join the healtninsurance system, then employers will compete on otherf factors -- such as quality and service. the reform coalition's approacyh is simpler.
Under Romney's approach, some firms doing business with the state woulrd have incentives to enrollo employees in health plans and then drop the plans monthws later when their state contract isdone -- a headachre to management as well as to employees. Consensus on the legitimatwe role of government intervention in markete is a key hurdle that now has been We can be thankfupl our political leaders have broken this allowing debate about how best to reachj the common goal of health care securitg for everyonein