In a February 18, 2015 press release, Katie Vlietstra, vice president for government relations and public affairs for the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), an organization representing small businesses, offered reaction to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's announcement that it is delaying the enforcement of the technical guidance issued in September 2013 regarding Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), which NASE says is a key health care tool for America's small employers.
"The announcement today by the Treasury Department that it has offered a short-term delay in the enforcement of a prohibition on Health Reimbursement Arrangements is welcome news for our community, but a long-term legislative solution is still urgently needed," said Vlietstra. "America's small employers need the stability of a permanent fix in order to continue to utilize this critical tool to help provide health care coverage to their employees.
"We support Congressmen Boustany's and Thompson's plans [see below] to re-introduce their bipartisan legislation focused on offering a permanent correction to this issue," she continued. "This bipartisan legislation would order the IRS to reverse its regulation preventing small businesses from providing stand-alone HRAs so that they can support their employees and help them obtain affordable health care. Their legislation, combined with the momentum by Senate Republicans and Democrats to address this issue, will help millions of small business owners and should be passed by Congress as soon as possible.
Recommended For You
"HRAs have long been used to help small business owners provide some level of financial support for their employees," said Vlietstra. "As an unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act, the prohibition placed upon the use of HRAs is detrimental to small businesses and their employees across the country. Although we welcome this temporary first step, we look forward to working with members on both sides of the aisle in Congress on a more permanent solution to this situation."
For over a decade, according the NASE, HRAs have been a key tool for small employers to provide their employees with minimal financial assistance for qualified health care expenses. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), followed by the 2013 decision by the Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Labor to tie key lifetime or annual limits and coverage of preventive health services to small employers offering HRAs, was a gross infringement on the small business community.
According to NASE, the change resulted in a particularly negative impact on small employers that are under no legal obligation to provide qualified health plans to their employees under the employer mandate of the ACA.
The Small Business Healthcare Relief Act, championed by U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Mike Thompson (D-CA), would allow for standalone health reimbursement arrangements for small employers (49 or fewer employees).
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
