Surely you're joking, Mr. Baucus!

A fundamental concept in the health-care reform proposals of President Obama and Congressional leaders is to nudge all but the smallest companies into providing health insurance to their employees. Weirdly, the new health-care reform bill currently being debated in the Senate Finance Committee would create a perverse incentive for a company without employee health insurance to opt out. The bill would require a company opting out to pay a Federal penalty of only $400/year times its total number of employees. According to the Congressional Budget Office, average employer cost in 2009 to insure an individual will be about $5,000 and about $13,000 to insure an employee’s family. The $400 opt-out would be a terrific bargain! Although most companies that currently provide health insurance would be unlikely to drop their plans, the proposed nudge would be meaningless to the rest. Is this some kind of joke?