Press Releases

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) issued the following joint statement after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finalized new rules undermining employee wellness programs:

Rising health care costs are a top concern for Americans across the country. More employers are offering wellness programs to help alleviate that concern and improve the well-being of their employees. The fact the commission is undermining those important efforts is simply baffling.

We should be exploring new ways to support innovative programs like these that help control costs and promote a healthier, more productive workforce. Instead, the agency is creating new bureaucratic hurdles and sending a confusing message to employers who want to reward their employees for making healthy lifestyle decisions.

These new rules are at odds with the law and the strong bipartisan support for employee wellness programs—including support from the president himself. We intend to do everything we can to protect America’s workers and their families from these misguided rules, and we’ll continue our efforts to encourage free-market solutions that empower individuals with more control over their personal health care decisions.

BACKGROUND: Successful employee wellness programs are an increasingly popular way to control health care costs, increase worker productivity, and improve the health of workers and their families, while also avoiding discrimination based on health status. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expanded permissible rewards for wellness program participation, and regulations issued by the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services allowed employers to discount health insurance premiums by up to 30 percent for employees who make certain lifestyle choices or 50 percent for smoking cessation programs. However, EEOC’s new rules threaten the certainty of the law for employers who offer these programs.

In 2015, Chairman Kline and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced the Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act, which would reaffirm existing law and eliminate legal uncertainty caused by EEOC for employers offering employee wellness programs.

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