House Passes Bill to Protect Access to Affordable Health Care Options

WASHINGTON, April 5 -- Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following news release:

The House today passed the Self-Insurance Protection Act (H.R. 1304), legislation that would protect access to affordable health care options for workers and families. Introduced by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), the legislation would reaffirm long-standing policies to ensure workers can continue to receive flexible, affordable health care coverage through self-insured plans. The bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 400 to 16.

"By protecting access to self-insurance, we can help ensure employers have the tools they need to control health care costs for working families," Rep. Roe said. "Millions of Americans rely on flexible self-insured plans and the benefits they provide. Federal bureaucrats should never have the opportunity to limit or threaten this popular health care option. This legislation prevents bureaucratic overreach and represents an important step toward promoting choice in health care."

"This legislation provides certainty for working families who depend on self-insured health care plans," Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said. "Workers and employers are already facing limited choices in health care, and the least we can do is preserve the choices they still have. I want to thank Representative Roe for championing this commonsense bill. While there's more we can and should do to ensure access to high-quality, affordable health care coverage, this bill is a positive step for workers and their families."

BACKGROUND: To ensure workers and employers continue to have access to affordable, flexible health plans through self-insurance, Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) introduced the Self-Insurance Protection Act (H.R. 1304). The legislation would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to clarify that federal regulators cannot redefine stop-loss insurance as traditional health insurance. H.R. 1304 would preserve self-insurance and:

Reaffirm long-standing policies. Stop-loss insurance is not health insurance, and it has never been considered health insurance under federal law. H.R. 1304 would reaffirm this long-standing policy.

Protect access to affordable health care coverage. By preserving self-insurance, workers and employers will continue to benefit from a health care plan model that has proven to lower costs and provide greater flexibility.

Prevent bureaucratic overreach. Clarifying that regulators cannot redefine stop-loss insurance would prevent future administrations from limiting a popular health care option for workers and employers.

For a copy of the bill, click here: https://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/1304ans_xml.pdf

For a fact sheet on the bill, click here: http://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=401400