Despite a few well-publicized cases of employers dropping coverage, insurance policy cancellations or even the roaring debate over what President Obama did or did not promise, it's unlikely the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will force or prompt very many large employers to end their insurance coverage and dump workers onto exchanges.

That is the dispassionate assessment offered by nonpartisan policy wonks, academics, government watchdogs, surveys of employers and others without a stake in the game.

"The bottom line is that most workers' firms will be dominated by workers who receive better benefits and, through the tax system, better subsidies through employer-provided coverage than through (the) newly created insurance exchanges," according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute's report, "Why Employers Will Continue to Provide Health Insurance. The Impact of the Affordable Care Act."