CAHC’s Joel White spoke with Bloomberg Law about efforts to strengthen the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Increased health care costs, including through mandates imposed by the Affordable Care Act, have resulted in an erosion in small business coverage, said Joel White, president of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage. As the government increases subsidies for ACA plans, many employees are moving to marketplace coverage and Medicaid, he said.
“Several states have effectively eliminated small employer access to self-funded plans by attempting to make the sale of reinsurance to small employers illegal, banning the sale of level-funded plans to certain size groups, or making the sale of low attachment point plans (which are needed by most small employers seeking a level-funded plan arrangement) illegal,” the CAHC said in its letter.
Protecting small business access to self-funded plans in all states “would involve clarifying ERISA preemption with respect to self-funded arrangements for small businesses,” CAHC said.