Employer health plan in 2025? Don't count on it

Large employers remain committed to providing their workers with health benefits for now, despite rising costs and more regulation under Obamacare. But three out of four big firms aren't sure they'll still be doing it by 2025. "That is very much a function of the uncertainty swirling around in the health-care landscape right now," said Randall Abbott, senior health-care consultant at benefits advisory firm Towers Watson. Executives at 95 percent of major companies said subsidizing health insurance for active employees would continue to be an important part of compensation programs for the next few years, according to the 2014 large employer survey conducted by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health.