Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich. Photo: Ike Hayman/House
A longtime supporter of association health plan proposals has reintroduced his AHP bill — and he's now in a better position to get that bill through Congress.
Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., brought back the Association Health Plans Act bill Tuesday.
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AHPs can give individuals or employers a way to join together to buy health coverage.
The new Walberg bill would make it easier for employers and self-employed people to join an AHP. It would let an AHP act as one large employer health plan if the AHP has been in existence for at least two years, was formed for a purpose other than offering health insurance and meets U.S. Labor Department requirements, according to an early draft of the text.
The bill would also set rules for AHP premiums and prohibit AHPs from denying coverage to people with health problems or discriminating against people with health problems in other ways.
Republicans, employer groups and some Democrats have supported AHP bills, arguing that they give individuals and small employers a way to bargain for lower premiums and better benefits and enjoy at least some of the flexibility that large employers with self-insured health plans now enjoy.
Insurers, many state insurance regulators and some Democrats in Congress have been skeptical about AHP proposals. The skeptics fear that some proposals for expanding access to AHPs could weaken the market for fully insured health coverage and weaken regulators' ability to address problems at AHPs.
Walberg has been introducing AHP bills similar to the new AHP bill since 2018.
One major difference is that he recently became the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, the House committee with jurisdiction over the bill.
Related: House committee chair continues fight for association health plans
A House Education and the Workforce subcommittee is talking about the bill today at a hearing on employer-sponsored health care.
Joel White, president of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage, put out a statement welcoming reintroduction of the AHP bill and saying the bill could help solve the problems now plaguing the small-group health insurance market.
"Small businesses are drowning in health care costs," White said. "Federal and state rules have made it more difficult and costly for mom-and-pop employers to offer affordable coverage to their employees. Less than one-third of small businesses now offer coverage, and most say high costs are the reason."
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
