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The latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll shows 60 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act’s “employer mandate,” while 38 percent view the provision negatively. The mandate requires large businesses with 100 or more workers to provide affordable health insurance for full-time workers or face a penalty of $2,000 per employee beginning in 2015. The rules allow these employers to cover only 70 percent of eligible employees in 2015 and 95 percent in 2016 and beyond. (Pugh, 12/17)

Just days before the requirement for most large employers to provide health insurance takes effect, a new poll finds the public easily swayed over arguments for and against the policy. Six in 10 respondents to the monthly tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation) said they generally favor the requirement that firms with more than 100 workers pay a fine if they do not offer workers coverage. But minimal follow-up information can have a major effect on their viewpoint, the poll found. (Rovner, 12/18)

Americans like the Obamacare mandate that large employers offer workers health insurance a lot more than the law’s requirement that most people must buy insurance, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Thursday. The poll, which comes on the eve of the twice-delayed employer mandate taking effect next month for businesses with more than 100 full-time employees, found that 60 percent of people support the requirement. The individual mandate, by comparison, still drew support from just 35 percent. (Norman, 12/18)

Obamacare’s employer mandate looks a whole lot different during a job-growing economic recovery. The cost of compliance when the mandate takes effect Jan. 1 doesn’t seem quite as onerous when compared to the need to attract and retain workers. Alternative coverage strategies offer businesses a better chance to keep budgets in check without risking the law’s penalties. (Norman, 12/18)