Category: Employee Benefits

AHCA Pulled Prior to Vote, ACA Remains

Around 3:30 p.m. on Friday House Speaker Paul Ryan came to the conclusion that the GOP didn’t have the votes in the House of Representatives to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and pulled it off the floor prior to a vote. 

This outcome came after a very tumultuous three weeks for the AHCA legislation, including multiple amendments, a CBO score that showed 24 million more people would be uninsured under the law, and what was perceived as rushed committee mark-up meetings and votes to keep the legislation moving forward.

In a prepared statement late Friday, Speaker Ryan acknowledged that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the “law of the land for the foreseeable future.”  Lawmakers have differing opinions as to how quickly they will resume efforts to repeal and replace the ACA, but most think it will not be an immediate priority.

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GOP Releases The American Health Care Act Proposed legislation would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act

Last night, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives released their proposed repeal and replacement bill, called the American Health Care Act.  The proposed legislation is a two-part bill, one coming from the Ways and Means Committee, and the other from the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Most notable for employers, the proposed legislation repeals the employer mandate and there will be no cap on the employer tax exclusion. (A full summary of the major impacts of the bill is included at the end of this post.)

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Trump Issues ACA Executive Order

On Friday, shortly after he took the oath of office, President Trump signed an executive order designed to “minimize the economic burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”.

While the President works with Congress to attempt to repeal and replace the ACA, this executive order allows the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – and other departments – to delay implementing any part of the law that might place a “fiscal burden on any State or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, or medications.” 

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Top Risk Concerns for Businesses and Individuals

Business leaders and consumers share many common concerns, according to data compiled from the 2016 Travelers Risk Index. The annual survey found that cyber risk is still considered one of the greatest risks facing both Americans and American businesses. And while businesses worry more about the implications of getting hacked, consumers are primarily concerned about personal privacy loss, identity fraud and cyber threats.

Top Business Risk Concerns

Medical cost inflation, increasing employee benefit costs and cyber-related technology risks/data breaches again topped the Travelers Risk Index for business concerns in 2016, although the overall proportion who felt the business environment is becoming more risky declined slightly from 2015 to 2016, from 44 percent to 41 percent. 

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The GOP Plan for the Future of the ACA Repeal ... Delay ... Replace

It appears as though the growing consensus within the GOP leadership is that they need to insert one additional verb into their plans for dealing with the future of the ACA … Delay.

After a meeting with Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Tuesday, it seems that the strategy of a repeal through budget reconciliation in the first 100 days of President-elect Trump’s presidency is still in their plans. However, the replacement isn’t going to come as quickly as some had thought, and many in the GOP might have hoped for. 

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