We've been hearing for a while how employer-based health plans are an endangered species. And it appears that beeline to extinction is accelerating. Maybe.

Strangely enough, it's because things are looking up in the individual market – especially if the Court upholds the legislation later this month when they're expected to hand down their decision. If that happens, things can only get better, based on a pair of studies in the latest issue of Health Affairs.

In fact, according to the journal, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would actually bring the individual market more in line with employer-sponsored care – leveling the playing field, if you will. To illustrate that, the number crunchers over there simulated what out-of-pocket spending would have been like under full implementation of PPACA for anyone with an individual policy during 2001-08, "including important subgroups – adults with chronic conditions, the near-elderly (ages 55–64), and low-income populations."