WASHINGTON, DC (July 9, 2018): The Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC) – a coalition of employers, insurers, life science companies, PBMs, brokers, agents, patient groups, and physician organizations – responded today to the House Ways and Means Committee’s planned markup of eleven bills to enhance health savings accounts (HSAs) and improve affordability for consumers under Obamacare.
Among the bills scheduled for the Committee’s consideration is the Bipartisan HSA Improvement Act of 2018, legislation endorsed by CAHC that would provide greater flexibility for plans to offer first-dollar coverage of services at on-site and retail clinics.
The markup is further set to include H.R. 6311, a bill authored by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) that would allow consumers to apply their subsidies issued under the Affordable Care Act toward the purchase of a qualified health plan apart from Healthcare.gov or state Obamacare exchanges.
CAHC has long championed subsidy portability in comment letters, briefings, whitepapers, blog posts, and testimony before Congress.
CAHC President Joel White released the following statement applauding the Ways and Means Committee’s upcoming markup:
“Today, more than 20 million Americans enjoy the flexibility and peace of mind that an HSA provides, and consumer demand for these market-driven tools continues to rise. CAHC strongly supports HSAs and has long advocated for solutions to enhance and expand these savings vehicles for American workers. As such, we are elated that the Ways and Means Committee is set to mark up a series of commonsense bills to do exactly that,” said CAHC President Joel White.
White continued, “From allowing HSA reimbursement for over-the-counter drugs, to broadening the scope of health plans deemed HSA-eligible, to raising contribution limits and allowing first-dollar coverage for treatment of telehealth, preventive, and chronic care, Chairman Brady, Chairman Roskam, and members of the Committee have laid out an agenda that fully embracesthe promise of HSAs and can help an already well-working aspect of our healthcare system function even better and serve more consumers. What’s more, the legislation allowing individuals to apply their premium tax credit under the Affordable Care Act toward an off-exchange plan will expand consumer choice in ways that we believe will drive competition and ultimately lower healthcare costs. CAHC eagerly looks forward to passage of these bills and urges the full House to take action soon thereafter.”