Republicans voted Wednesday morning in favor of a resolution disapproving of a Biden administration rule limiting access to association health plans.
With a vote of 23-12, House Committee on Education and the Workforce members offered support for association health plans, a provision that is supported by some organizations such as the National Federation of Independent Business.
Critics say these plans allow small businesses to sidestep the Affordable Care Act in an effort to offer less extensive benefits, while proponents argue the flexibility in plans results in more coverage.
“First, it allowed non-industry based groups to offer a fully insured association health plan that is treated as one single plan and regulated like a large employer plan,” said Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, in support of the resolution during the markup hearing. “Second, it allowed self-employed individuals to fully participate in a fully insured, or self-insured, association health plan.”
He said these plans would have given coverage to 400,000 uninsured individuals, and 3.6 million people would have chosen association health plans over their current health insurance. By opposing these plans, Democrats are choosing to force Americans into government-run health programs, he said.
Association health plans were largely invalidated in federal court in 2019. The Department of Labor recently rescinded remaining components of the Trump-era rule in favor of the plans, saying it was not consistent with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, said the vote was an “exercise in futility” because the purpose of the Biden administration’s rule rescission was to comply with a federal court, and the resolution simply nullifies the rescission.
“The invalidated 2018 rule relied on a discredited approach to healthcare Republicans have been pushing for years,” he said. “It would create a two-tiered insurance market that benefits a small number of younger, healthier people and leaves everyone else behind.”
Ahead of the hearing, the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) stated it strongly opposed the resolution because of its potential to destabilize insurance markets. It said association health plans would weaken access to coverage and incentivize growth in multiple employer welfare arrangements.
“Under federal law, coverage offered by large employers is exempt from a set of standards and consumer protections that insurance offered to small employers and individuals must otherwise meet,” said the FAH.
The group added that these plans would not include critical consumer protections like cost-sharing limits and risk pool requirements.