E&W Blog

As health care expenses continue to rise, the Committee is looking at solutions to bring down costs for working families. In today’s subcommittee hearing, Committee Members and witnesses discussed the challenges that small business are facing as they seek to offer high-quality and low-cost health care. 
 
At the start of the hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Rick Allen (R-GA) highlighted threats to employer-sponsored health care. 

"Rising costs have a disproportionate impact on small businesses, as they are less able to absorb the impacts of rising health care costs. Ninety-four percent of small employers find it challenging to manage the cost of their health plans, and 98 percent believe that the cost of their health plans will become unsustainable within the next decade. The Biden-Harris administration’s inflationary agenda, intent on tying the hands of employers with costly and burdensome regulations, contributed to the health care cost challenges that small businesses face today,” Allen said. 

Rep. Allen went on to ask about the advantages of allowing small businesses to band together through Association Health Plans (AHPs) to allow them to negotiate lower rates and expand provider networks. 
 
Ms. Angela Shields, CEO of Tennessee REALTORS, replied, “So many reasons but the one I would highlight is the deductible savings, in many cases we are able to keep them with the doctor they are using, we do take pre-existing conditions, and it just gives [employees] good quality coverage.”
 
In an exchange, full Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) discussed how the Biden-Harris administration’s attacks on AHPs have caused individuals to lose health care coverage.

“So, the disruption of the Tennessee REALTORS’s AHP ultimately put people on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) again or uninsured?” Chairman Walberg asked Ms. Shields.

Ms. Shields was able to recall a devastating story of this that stuck with her. “I had a member who unfortunately has passed since that time, who had everything from heart conditions to diabetes and ended up dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease. So, to tell someone like that, that we finally got you on a plan and then to tell them that ‘we are so sorry, but we have to take it away’,” she said.

Democrats said the quiet part out loud when Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) stated, “I don’t think there should be any health care tied to employment.” With this one sentence Democrats have made their goal clear: They want to get rid of the private employer-sponsored health care system that 164.7 million Americans depend on.

Other Democrats used their time to push for Obamacare expansion. This was a repeated talking point even though recent polling has found that a majority of employees are satisfied with their employer-sponsored insurance and 75 percent prefer coverage through an employer rather than the government.  
 
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) denounced those who want to do away with employer-sponsored health care. “It is astounding that people would be opposed to giving people a choice to get lower cost health care that they are satisfied with. It is astounding to me that someone would go on the record and say, ‘I want to take away choice from people to get low-cost health care that meets their needs’,” he said. 

Republican members also asked witnesses about legislation that can improve health care for working families.
 
Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO) asked Ms. Marcie Strouse, with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) about the benefits of bills like the Self-Insurance Protect Act, legislation that protects self-insurance programs by clarifying that federal regulators cannot define stop-loss insurance as traditional insurance. 
 
“These plans can often lower deductibles, out of pocket maximums, and cost-shares for office visits. It also gives employees the opportunity to drive their own health experience and their own health journey,” Ms. Strouse responded. “When you have skin in the game, and it directly impacts your paycheck, you tend to be a little more engaged with what’s going on. We are seeing things being diagnosed a lot sooner and better outcomes for employees in these situations.”  
 
Rep. Virgina Foxx (R-NC) asked about the need for transparency in health care costs, such as the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act would enhance. “Transparency is vital, I think we can all agree on that. Right now, the health care system has gotten so complicated that it makes it very hard for people to manage their own health care journey. I will tell you that it’s more than just PBMs, there are also a few stakeholders that impact pharmacy costs. So, we need transparency across the board,” said Ms. Strouse in reply. 

“It’s intriguing to me that there is this battle not to have price transparency. Obviously, we must be onto something if people who should be giving us transparency are not giving us transparency, because it’s the right thing to do,” Rep. Foxx said.

“We’ve learned a lot today; one thing is that small businesses need flexibility and as many tools as possible to combat years of rising healthcare costs and to continue to offer high quality health care to their employees,” Rep. Allen concluded.

The bottom line: The split screen is clear; Republicans are fighting to fix our broken health care system through the expansion of employer-sponsored health care and removing regulatory red tape. Democrats are insistent on taking away health care decisions from American workers.