Senate HELP releases updated Healthcare Reform Draft Language without Self-Insurance Prohibition

Senate HELP releases updated Healthcare Reform Draft Language without Self-Insurance Prohibition

On Tuesday, June 9th, SIIA’s Government Relations Staff was able to obtain an updated draft of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee’s healthcare reform bill. This draft is an expanded version of the language released to SIIA and other stakeholders last week. The HELP Committee’s bill includes mandates on individuals to obtain coverage and employers to provide or help pay for coverage. The bill also includes numerous health insurance reforms including guaranteed issue, community rating and prohibitions on factoring in preexisting conditions in pricing. The bill includes a proposal to establish an exchange(s) (referred to as “gateways”); and would allow government-run plans to play a significant role in healthcare coverage.

As reported by SIIA, the original draft included a limitation . SIIA staff was immediately in touch with their high-level contacts protesting this provision and submitted official comments to the Committee detailing our opposition. This communication was a continuation of our efforts to educate lawmakers on the benefits of self-insuring for small to medium-sized employers. Updating this development, while it is yet unclear as to the specific meaning behind it, the June 9th draft does not include the self-insurance language. However, today at 1:30 p.m. we were informed by Kennedy’s staff that the provision has in fact been dropped altogether.

ESTIMATES ON CHANGES TO THE EMPLOYER-BASED TAX EXCLUSION SHOWS SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION OF EMPLOYER-SYSTEM

As previously reported by SIIA, in an effort to help pay for healthcare reform, considerations are underway to make changes to the employer-based healthcare tax structure. A study recently performed by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that anywhere from 1 – 12 million Americans would lose their employer-sponsored coverage as a result of changes to the current tax structure, and the severity of those changes, of employer-sponsored healthcare.

SENATE REPUBLICANS UNITE TO OPPOSE GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTHCARE

The top-ranking Republican Senator on the Health Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Orrin Hatch (UT), led an effort to publicly oppose a government-run health plan as part of any exchange(s) created through healthcare reform. SIIA applauded the efforts of these Members for opposing a provision that would likely lead to the demise of the employer-based system and the private marketplace as a whole.

SIIA urges all those in the self-insurance industry interested in preserving the way we do business and the benefits we provide to 75 million Americans covered by self-insured plans, to use the resources provided in SIIA’s Grassroots Toolkit and contact their Members of Congress to voice our message.

The threat to the self-insurance industry and the employer-based system under which we operate in has never been more significant. Now is the time to voice our powerful and unified voice to politicians in Washington that we will not stand for any proposals that would cause significant damage to our industry and to those lives we cover.

SIIA’s Grassroots Toolkit can be found at http://www.siia.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=4717 . If you have any questions, or would like any further information, please contact SIIA’s Government Relations office at  202-463-8161 .

Visit SIIA's website for additional information on Health care reform at www.siia.org.