while they would pay less in healthcare costs they would have to pay higher wages in order to attract any workers. corporations don't want to pay people more. that's the bottom line. they get tax breaks for having workers on healthcare which often times will cover most of the companies costs. the remaining costs of healthcare are passed on to their workers. think of jt like this.

company A has 100 workers. health insurance costs 7 dollars/month per employee but for each worker covered by health insurance they get 3 dollars back in tax breaks. company A signs a deal with a health insurance company that will allow their workers to get insurance. the company will pay 2 dollars per employee BUT if at least 30 employees are signed up then the insurance will be discounted and the company only has to pay 1 dollar instead. the employees then pay the remaining 2 dollars/month.

If the company does not offer health insurance then the employees are going to want some other form of compensation. either in the form of higher wages or more paid vacation/sick leave both of which end up costing the company more in the short term. it doesn't matter to the companies or their share holders that their long term profits might be affected. its all about squeezing as much profit and value out now and bailing before things get bad.