Business World

More than 80 percent of Americans think employers should be required to provide health insurance to their workers or pay into a fund to help cover them.

That’s according to a new survey by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York City foundation that advocates health care reform.

This play-or-pay requirement is supported by most Republicans surveyed as well as most Democrats, according to the survey.

The leading Democratic presidential candidates include this employer mandate in their health care plans, but Hillary Clinton would exempt small businesses from this requirement. She instead would provide them with tax credits as an inducement to offer health insurance.

None of the Republican presidential candidates would require employers to provide health insurance.

They instead focus on providing tax breaks to individuals who buy insurance on their own.

"The public seems to be more in line with the Democratic position," said Sara Collins, assistant vice president at the Commonwealth Fund.

More than 60 percent of people surveyed by Commonwealth said candidates’ health care positions would be very important in their presidential voting decision payday advance.

An employer mandate could face strong opposition from some small business groups, particularly the National Federation of Independent Business. NFIB helped derail the health care reform plan developed by Clinton in 1993 when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president.

NFIB now says it supports universal health care in principle, but "a health care system built on employer mandates or on play-or-pay taxes is unacceptable."

A slight majority of Republicans support requiring individuals to have health insurance, while 80 percent of Democrats favor an individual mandate, as long as the government provides help to individuals who can’t afford it.

Clinton and John Edwards would require individuals to get insurance, while Barack Obama would require only children to be covered.

Two-thirds of survey respondents said health insurance costs should be shared among individuals, employers and the government.

For more information, see commonwealthfund.org

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