INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A new survey from a large benefits consultant says nearly one of every 10 mid-sized or big employers expects to stop offering health coverage to workers once federal insurance exchanges start in 2014.

Towers Watson says an additional 20 percent of the companies it surveyed last month are unsure about what they will do. The remaining 71 percent expect to continue offering benefits.

Exchanges were devised under the health care overhaul and aim to provide a marketplace for people to buy insurance that can be subsidized by the government based on income levels.

Benefits experts say retailers and companies that pay low wages are most likely to drop coverage for their workers. But they also caution that companies are far from making a final decision on this.