Congressional Republicans are taking sides with the Obama administration to try to fend off an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission assault on Obamacare-sanctioned wellness programs.
Senate and House Republicans who support wellness plans that reward participants who meet certain health objectives introduced a bill to protect such employer programs from EEOC tampering.
According to the news source The Hill, the bill “would clarify the legality of the programs and 'eliminate confusion' caused by the EEOC lawsuits,” its sponsors said.
The EEOC has been kicking the tires on wellness plans for more than a year, probing them for discriminatory elements. Among the things the commission looks for: Does a wellness plan that rewards one participant also “punish” another?
In the case of the plan structure the GOPers are attempting to defend, participants who quit smoking or maintain healthy cholesterol levels would be eligible to receive plan premium reductions of as much as 50 percent. However, if the same plan were to impose financial penalties on those that don't comply with certain aspects of the plan, the EEOC has said, the plan would be discriminatory and thus illegal.
Representatives of the conservative Business Roundtable met with members of the administration in December to protest the line of litigation the EEOC has been pursuing against wellness plans. The GOP bill would seek to set specific legal standards for the plans that would be impervious to the commission's challenges.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
