Hurting individual major medical market, and the Affordable Care Act public health insurance exchange system, "would make individual market coverage a less viable option for part-time workers, early retirees, and those who would otherwise elect to secure coverage through the individual market," James Klein, president of the American Benefits Council, said in a statement.

Ending cost-sharing reduction subsidy payments could be a step back for efforts to increase the flexibility of HRA-based programs, Klein said.

Destabilizing the individual health market could also lead hospitals and physicians to shift the cost of caring for newly uninsured people onto the shoulders of employer-sponsored group health plans, Klein said.

Definitions

The cost-sharing reduction subsidy program helps low-income exchange plan users pay their health plan deductibles and other out-of-pocket health care costs.

An HRA is an employer-owned account that can help an employee health care costs, such as bills for deductibles, co-payments and eyeglasses.

One major difference between an HRA and a health savings account (HSA) is that an employee can use an HRA together with ordinary low-deductible major medical coverage, or major medical coverage with a very high deductible.

An HSA user must combine the HSA with major medical coverage with a deductible higher than the statutory minimum threshold, and a deductible at or under a statutory maximum annual out-of-pocket spending limit. For 2017, the minimum individual HSA deductible is $1,300 and the maximum is $6,550.