1. After the Mandates: Massachusetts Employers Continue to Support Health Reform As More Firms Offer Coverage
Jon R. Gabel
Heidi Whitmore
Jeremy Pickreign
Will Selheim
Shova KC
Valerie Bassett

2. Study Data and Methods
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/NORC survey of Massachusetts employers in Spring 2007 and 2008
Public and private firms in Massachusetts with three or more workers
Firms randomly chosen from Dun and Bradstreet
Sample sizes
2007 – 1,052 firms
2008 – 1,003 firms
Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust Employer Health Benefits Surveys, 2007 and 2008, provides national comparison group
2007 – 1,997 firms
2008 – 1,927 firms
Questionnaires are highly similar but not identical.
Use of statistical weights
Employer weights
Employee weights

3. Exhibit 1
“Overall the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Plan Has Been Good for Massachusetts,” responses by firm size 2008
* Firm size category is statistically different from other size firms at .05 level
Source: RWJF/NORC/BCBSF of MA Survey of Massachusetts Employers: 2008

9. Conclusions
Support for health care reform in the employer community continues.
A majority of firms support the “Fair Share” requirement and applying these requirements to firms with 10 or fewer works.
Where is the crowd-out?

10. Lessons Learned
Employer participation in the authorizing legislation was critical in the employer community’s acceptance of reform.
Individual mandate mitigates “crowd-out.”