Deck 17: The Business of Health Care: How Employers Influence Politics

Question 1

Which statement is accurate regarding business attitudes towards President Obama's proposed health care reform?

A)Several smaller business groups came out in favor of employer mandates.
B)All business groups vehemently opposed the employer mandate and public option.
C)Large employers favored the public option as a means to reduce their health insurance costs.
D)More than half of business owners thought the law should apply to all employers regardless of size.

Answer 1

Several smaller business groups came out in favor of employer mandates.

Question 2

Which phrase best describes the business community's attitude toward the Wal-Mart bill?

A)remarkable heterogeneity
B)large employers for; small employers against
C)monolithic opposition
D)uniformity within specific business markets

Answer 2

remarkable heterogeneity

Question 3

More than half of Massachusetts business owners surveyed in 2007 thought the law should apply to ____.

A)all employers
B)employers with more than 25 employees
C)employers with more than 10 employees
D)employers with more than 50 employees

Answer 3

all employers

Question 4

Which statement is true regarding one of the effects of expansion of public programs on employers?

A)Employers can reap the benefits of healthier, more productive workers without paying the up-front costs.
B)Employees are not permitted to leave their employer's plan and enroll in a public program.
C)Coverage of the previously uninsured may cause labor costs to go up because health care costs in the entire system would increase.
D)All employers are required to pay a "fair share" fee to help cover the costs of government coverage.

Question 5

Wal-Mart was the focus of Maryland's health reform effort because ____.

A)many studies found that the store had more employees enrolled in public health programs than any other company
B)it was the only employer of over 10,000 workers in the state
C)many states had enacted fair share legislation focused on Wal-Mart at that time
D)it was the only problematic employer in the state

Question 6

Which statement is accurate regarding the business community?

A)Business associations and lobbying groups tend to represent only the conservative viewpoint.
B)Organized business associations, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are highly effective at representing the interests of the business community.
C)Individual business owners are almost uniformly at the far right of the political spectrum.
D)At the federal level, the business community's lobbying efforts have largely paid off in terms of enactment of numerous pro-business policies.

Question 7

Employers became the primary purchasers of health insurance through ____.

A)a series of government decisions starting during World War II
B)passage of the Social Security Act under President Franklin Roosevelt
C)passage of ERISA under President Gerald Ford
D)the post-war need to provide health coverage to veterans and their families

Question 8

State policymakers anticipate the reactions of employers, which limits the menu of viable options to programs that business would potentially support (or at least not oppose), in order to ____.

A)avoid employers exiting the state
B)avoid employers' structural power
C)rein in employers' lobbying efforts
D)prevent employers from affecting health policy

Question 9

In Maryland, an example of the ability of employers to shape the details of health legislation is ____.

A)Johns Hopkins's negotiation of the terms of the legislation to make it less costly for itself
B)Northrop Grumman's powerful representation of the business perspective on this issue
C)Giant Food's support of the legislation
D)Wal-Mart's successful employment of twelve lobbyists in the state

Question 10

Which firm spends the largest percentage of payroll on health insurance?

A)less than 25 employees
B)25-49 employees
C)50-99 employees
D)over 100 employees

Question 11

According to several surveys, in which group does a majority support various mandates that require all but the tiniest employers to provide health benefits or pay a fee?

A)small business owners
B)employers with unionized workforces
C)major national business groups
D)the largest employers

Question 12

What would a labor economist argue related to employer-provided health insurance?

A)The employees actually pay all of the costs.
B)The employees pay the proportion reflected by their premium contributions.
C)The government essentially pays all of the costs.
D)The employer pays all of the costs.

Question 13

What is likely the primary reason that business groups in Massachusetts accepted the fair share employer mandate?

A)By choosing to sit at the table and negotiate an employer fee, the business community was likely able to avoid far more burdensome costs.
B)Employers sought to shape the legislation to require payment of a percentage of payroll rather than a flat fee per employee.
C)Most employers, large and small, were highly idealistic in that time period.
D)Actual reform seemed unlikely given the partisan split between the Governor and the legislative leaders.

Question 14

After passage of the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ____.

A)focused on revision of the regulations and implementation details
B)was lead plaintiff in a lawsuit asserting the ACA was unconstitutional
C)joined with NFIB to repeal the legislation in its entirety
D)sought temporary waivers to exempt most employers from the regulations

Question 15

The vast majority of uninsured Americans (77% as of 2010)are ____.

A)able-bodied adults in working families
B)the poor, the disabled, and the elderly
C)children in poor families
D)unemployed