At a recent annual summit of business leaders in Denver, the main topic for discussion was what role should businesses continue to play as a provider of healthcare insurance. Traditionally most people have tuned to their employers for no cost or low cost health insurance, but in these times of rising healthcare costs and shrinking benefits, many have been seeking elsewhere for affordable health insurance. Prompting business leaders in Denver and elsewhere to wonder, “Is it time for employer based health insurance to become a thing of the past”

It seems that policy makers on both sides of the political aisle are now moving away from employer based health insurance, albeit in different directions. The Right advocating a free market where consumers take a more active roll in creating low cost private health insurance options. On the other hand the Left supports Single Payer Universal Healthcare sponsored by the Federal Government. No matter where you line up the role of employer based health insurance diminishes. The former head of the Colorado Office of Business Development, Brain Vogt said during the Panel, "At one point, it made sense for employers and insurance to go hand in hand, when employers were stable and employees by and large had careers, but all of that has changed."

Yet if we are indeed steering away from employer based group health insurance, it is a very slow turn. Major providers of employer based health plans have enjoyed record profits for the sixth consecutive year. And contrary to popular belief recent data reported by the National Opinion Research Center, found that the number of large employers dropping coverage or forcing employees into private health insurance plans with self-funded health savings accounts is actually small. The study also noted that 55 percent of Americans still get insurance from an employer.

Case in point Wal-Mart. While being accused of low wages, and being otherwise unfriendly to workers the retail giant sees itself as a leader in providing affordable health benefits to their employees. Even the lower wage earning hourly employees. A spokesperson for Wal-Mart said recently “it makes no sense to develop a great health benefit package if their front line employees cannot afford to participate. Wal-Mart has group health insurance plans available for as little as  $11 a month, with deduction options of $350, $500 and $1,000.  Over 75% of Wal-Mart’s employees, including many part-timers, qualify for coverage.