Association health plan bill is back, could reach House floor soon
A House committee has approved both the AHP bill, which sought to expand health plan opportunities for small employers, and a telehealth facility fee bill.
Members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee voted 23-12 Sept. 11 to support a resolution promoting access to association health plans.
If the resolution becomes law, it would overturn a Biden administration regulation that blocked the implementation of an AHP program expansion effort.
The effort began in 2018, while Donald Trump was president, when regulators approved a broad, flexible new definition of the word “employer” for AHP purposes. The Trump-era definition would have let small employers in a metropolitan area, including a multi-state metropolitan area, join together to offer self-insured health plans.
Regulators talked about efforts to free self-insured multiple employer welfare associations from state benefits mandates, but not state solvency oversight.
Previously, employers teaming up in an AHP had to show that they had something in common other than an interest in providing health benefits for the employees.
AHP expansion supporters argued that the broader AHP program would simply give small employers access to the same kind of federally regulated major medical plans that large employers already offer.
Critics predicted that, even though AHPs would have to meet the same Affordable Care Act rules that apply to large self-insured health plans, AHPs could drive up group health insurance premiums, by luring employers with younger, healthier workers out of the fully insured health plan market.
Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Minn, the sponsor of the AHP resolution, said at the House Education and the Workforce bill consideration meeting that employers using AHPs achieved savings of up to 29% on their health coverage while the Trump-era employer definition was in effect.
Related: House Republican aims to revive association health plan regulations
“Unfortunately, Democrats have made it a priority to limit choice when it comes to affordable health care options,” Walberg said.
Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia blocked the 2018 employer definition, finding that it conflicted with federal law.
The Biden administration’s final employer definition rule “simply eliminates this no-longer-effective language from the federal regulations,” Scott said.
If the old employer definition and expanded AHP program were still in effect, “it would create a two-tiered marketplace that benefits a small number of younger, healthier people and leaves everyone else behind,” Scott said.
The House Education and the Workforce Committee also passed the Transparent Telehealth Bills Act of 2024. That bill, which was introduced by Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., could protect employer-sponsored health plans from big telehealth bills.
The bill would prohibit a telehealth services provider from charging an employer-sponsored health plan a facility fee simply because the provider was located in a health care facility.
Committee members approved the telehealth facility fee bill by a 33-0 vote.