After the mandates: Massachusetts employers continue to support health reform as more firms offer coverage

Based on a spring 2008 survey of 1,003 randomly selected Massachusetts firms, this paper examines views and responses of employers to health care reform after employer and individual mandates went into effect. A majority of firms view reform as "good for Massachusetts." The percentage of firms with three or more workers offering coverage increased from 73 percent to 79 percent. Massachusetts employers are less likely than employers nationally to indicate plans to terminate coverage or restrict eligibility for health benefits, which suggests that crowd-out is not occurring.