Small Business Proposals Impacting the Affordable Care Act

January 2018 – New rules have been proposed to make it easier for small businesses to join together and create health insurance for their employees.  The Affordable Care Act change proposed by the administration, could benefit unto 11 million Americans according to the Labor Department. The executive order is subject to a 60 comment period before taking effect.

The change would enable small business owners, their employees, sole proprietors and other self-employed people to band together into a single group to buy insurance in the large-group market. These plans, could streamline the services covered making it more cost-effective for the smaller employers to offer a wider array of coverage options to their employees than are currently available.

However, self-appointed “consumer groups”, some state officials and Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans have opposed similar concepts over the years. They argue that this type of coverage will attract younger, healthier workers leaving those with greater medical complication in more expensive plans which would drive up those premiums. Proponents argue that those premiums have already risen since the enactment of the ACA.

The proposal has drawn support from two major trade organizations, who’s members would certainly benefit from the change. The National Restaurant Association and the National Retail Federation members are traditionally small businesses.

This is not a new concept, the House of Representatives passed a bill that included such plans in 1998, but it died in the Senate. They were proposed again in 2003 and 2004. The House passed a bill to encourage them once more in March 2017.