This Week in Health Care Reform: May 3, 2012
The House works towards a student loan fix, while a pair of Committee reports make partisan waves, and the GOP presidential field is winnowed down to two.
We encourage you to stay involved with the implementation efforts surrounding health care reform by voicing your perspective to Members of Congress and by visiting the Health Action Network.
Health Care Reform
State of the Mandate: As the country anxiously awaits next month’s Supreme Court ruling, some states find themselves caught in a bit of a holding pattern. Should the Court rule against the individual mandate, the viability of the exchange marketplace would be severely undermined as, absent the requirement that individuals purchase coverage, healthier people could elect to avoid paying into the system, causing premiums to soar.
Costs, Confusion, and Coverage: Republicans on the House Energy & Commerce Committee released a report last week detailing the effects of the Affordable Care Act on employer-sponsored coverage. Widely attacked as partisan rhetoric, contributors to the report, nonetheless, included General Electric, American Express, and Southwest Airlines, all member companies of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. These corporate advisers cite concerns over rising costs due to taxes, fees, and bureaucratic burdens as leading to pervasive confusion amongst the business community. And, while the response to the report has been generally dismissive, there are some that see a larger pattern emerging.
Emerging Threat: Not to be outdone, Republicans on the House Ways & Means Committee released a report of their own on Tuesday detailing how the ACA incentivizes employers to drop coverage and funnel their workers into the newly established exchange marketplace. Based on survey responses from 71 Fortune100 companies, Committee staff pegged the savings for these organizations at $28.6 billion in 2014 should they elect to pay the ACA’s employer mandate penalty. Whether or not the correlation exists, a recent study conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) highlights the downward trend in employer-sponsored coverage.
Agree to Disagree: With the Supreme Court’s decision expected next month, Republican lawmakers have begun laying the groundwork for a legislative lifeline. However, despite their ability to coalesce around some of the broader points of reform, the practical aspects of coming together on a bill that everyone can get behind remain elusive.
This weeks update from the Health Action Network at Wellpoint.com
