Iowa employers are reluctant to increase federal involvement in health insurance coverage, according to the 2009 Iowa Employer Benefits Study, the 11th annual study conducted by David P. Lind & Associates (DPL&A) of Clive, an employee benefits consulting and research firm.

The survey, conducted earlier this summer, found that two-thirds (66 percent) of Iowa employers believe that current health policies need to change with at least some type of government intervention. However, the companies do not want to see the government expand public insurance programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, to insure all Americans. Seventy-one percent of all responding organizations, both large and small, were opposed to some degree to such a public expansion.

“Iowa employers believe healthcare reform is needed but are opposed to mandated employer healthcare coverage and future cost shifting by public plans,” David Lind, president of DPL&A, said in a press release. The study results, statistically accurate to within plus or minus 3.3 percent at a 95 percent confidence level, are based on 892 responses from 2,660 randomly selected companies with two or more employees.

A majority of Iowa employers (81 percent) are at least somewhat opposed to the government mandating that employers provide health insurance for their workers, and fewer than 4 percent “strongly favor” government-mandated employer coverage. Fifty-four percent of the smallest employers surveyed (two to nine workers) are “strongly opposed” to government-mandated employer coverage. About two-thirds (65 percent) of employers said the costs of health coverage for the uninsured should be paid by the government and not be shifted to those currently paying for private health insurance.

More than half the employers responding indicated they were not aware that Medicare and Medicaid reimburse healthcare providers significantly less than is being charged, which results in privately insured plans ultimately making up the difference. However, 73 percent of responding employers, both large and small, said they believe that the current reimbursement arrangement is unfair.

To avoid future cost shifting, 67 percent of Iowa employers would like to see the Medicare and Medicaid programs reimburse physicians and hospitals at rates comparable to private health insurance. Over three-quarters (77 percent) of larger organizations (those with more than 250 employees) are more likely to favor this equalized reimbursement than smaller organizations (64 percent).