House Committee Holds Hearing on AHP Expansion Bill

On April 2, the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s Health Subcommittee held a hearing on “expanding access and affordability” to employer-sponsored health insurance. A key priority the subcommittee discussed was association health plans (AHPs).

Subcommittee chairman Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA) noted rising health insurance premiums and said he believes that one way to lower costs would be to make AHPs more available to more employers and to the self-employed. While AHPs dominated the hearing discussion, other topics were also addressed. They included cuts at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), ERISA preemption issues, the challenges small businesses face in finding affordable health coverage for their employees, and the potential for lowering employer health insurance costs through such approaches as increased administrative efficiency and reference-based pricing.

The hearing revolved around two recently introduced bills:

1. R.2528, the Association Health Plans Act, which would codify the 2018 AHP regulation (now rescinded after a court largely overturned it) that expanded AHP eligibility (including to self-employed individuals). The AHP bill was introduced by the full committee’s chairman, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), and

2. R.2571, a bill introduced by Robert Onder (R-MO), that would deny regulators authority to treat stop-loss insurance as health insurance.

Both bills enjoy considerable Republican support, but are largely opposed by Congressional Democrats.

Prospects: Given all-GOP control of Congress and likely little if any revenue impact from these bills, prospects for moving them are good in the House. It is a different story in the Senate, however, where Democratic opposition could prevent approval by the 60-vote threshold that would be needed to advance the legislation. However, neither bill is likely to get much lawmaker attention until after the currently-pending budget/reconciliation issues are resolved.

NAIFA Staff Contacts: Jayne Fitzgerald – Director – Government Relations, at jfitzgerald@naifa.org, or Mike Hedge – Senior Director – Government Relations, at mhedge@naifa.org.