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SIIA Legislative Update – Healthcare Reform     January 19, 2010

Information Disclaimer Note: Congressional developments regarding health care reform are fluid and SIIA lobbyists are continually meeting with Members of Congress, key staff members and other industry stakeholders, which generate ongoing intelligence. In order to keep our members informed in “real time”, we will report relevant information as we become aware of it. Given that the political process is inherently unpredictable, information communicated in previous reports may be superseded in subsequent reports. Should you have any questions in between reports, please contact SIIA’s Washington, DC office directly at 202/463-8161.

Moments ago, the House passed a repeal of the PPACA -fulfilling a campaign promise made by the new Republican majority. While the repeal bill had a significant amount of House support, it is unlikely to move any further as there is not enough support in the Democrat controlled Senate as well as in the White House.

Republicans have cited strong public opinion against PPACA, the lack of evidence in decrease of the uninsured, an increase to the deficit and potential to negatively affect employment as reasons for repeal. While full repeal is highly unlikely, House Republicans will soon begin their next steps to make targeted changes to PPACA through a series of Congressional oversight hearings, legislation to replace or remove unpopular provisions, or block spending measures to fund reform programs.

Republicans are expected to make realistic efforts at reform by reviewing key issues in oversight hearings, including; mandates affecting employment levels and the economy, possible effects of PPACA on the cost of healthcare and the number of uninsured and negative consequences of any regulations by the Administration.

Republicans may also try to pass reforms they had supported during the PPACA debate, but were not included by the Democrats. These include; medical liability reform, Association Health Plans (with the ability of plans to self-insure), the allowance to purchase insurance across State lines, programs to expand coverage options for individuals with preexisting conditions and enhancements of Consumer Driven Health Plans.

Some bipartisan legislative work may be expected on other issues, such as, eliminating the new 1099 business expenses reporting requirement, the play-or-pay provision, and certain newly mandated plan requirements. Lastly, Republicans may propose deregulating some of the PPACA components; instead sending authority down to the States. These could include authority over insurance exchanges, high-risk pools and plan mandates.

SIIA supports the need for healthcare reform, but the PPACA does nothing to address the problems of our current system. The PPACA will negatively harm the self-insurance industry, employer-sponsors and plan participants. Provisions of the PPACA will make coverage more expensive; likely resulting in some employers to drop their plans, reduce coverage, and/or increase their employees’ cost-share.

Specifically, the self-insurance industry opposes the lack of an employee “firewall” (allowing participants to leave the plan), mandated plan structure, employer mandates that incentivize employers to drop coverage, exchanges that are open to employers of all sizes, low-income subsidies only allowable for exchange-based plans, insurance market reforms that are applied to self-insured plans and taxation of generous plans.

As this law greatly affects the self-insurance industry, it is in SIIA’s best interest to not only pay notice to what is taking place in our Capitol, but to continue our involvement in the legislative process. SIIA has participated in the debate on the Hill and even published a “Blueprint” that detailed our industry’s specific reform recommendations on preserving the Employer-Based Healthcare System, cost containment, small business pooling, tax incentives, and expanding consumer-driven health care.

SIIA’s government relations Staff will continue to make it our top-priority to work with key staff to represent and defend the self-insurance industry and make sure our voice is heard on Capitol Hill.

Stay Informed on the PPACA

SIIA’s Government Relations Staff is continually updating SIIA’s PPACA In-Depth Analysis as regulations and guidance are issued by Federal agencies and Congress. Please continue to visit our website to review the most up-to-date information – http://www.siia.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageID=5401

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This entry was posted by cmonfils on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 10:53 am and is filed under Health Care Legislation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.