How does providing health insurance pose a burden on employers?

And would they be better off, more competitive if this burden was lifted from them and health insurance came from somewhere else
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It's a burden in the sense that it is a cost that the employer must pay, even when the employees pay part of the cost, the employer is still footing at least part of the bill. Under our current system, company rates (larger pool) are much less expensive than an individual getting insurance for themselves. The issue that really angers me is when a company does not provide health insurance for employees or makes the rates so high that the employees cannot afford to buy it. In these instances of 'corporate welfare', the company is basically foisting their responsibility onto the community taxpayers. For example: *** WAL-MART Costs Taxpayers $1,557,000,000 to Support its Employees... Wal-mart keeps it's wage cost so low and benefits cost so high that state-funded (taxpayer $s) assistance programs end up footing the bill. This "principled" corporation does provide information to employees about public assistance programs in their local areas. Watch the documentary, "Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price", this link cites stats and sources: http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php
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