"A Healthy Workforce: Expanding Access and Affordability in Employer-Sponsored Health Care"

House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions

2025-04-02

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Source: Congress.gov

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Transcript

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Unknown (SPEAKER_13)
Okay.  The Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions will come to order.  I note that a quorum is present.  Without objection, the chair is authorized to call a recess at any time.
Thank you to our witnesses for joining the subcommittee to discuss today's topic, a healthy workforce, expanding access and affordability in employer-sponsored healthcare.   As the Committee of Jurisdiction over Employee-Sponsored Health Care Education Workforce Committee members understand that employers want what is best for their employees.  Despite not being required to offer health coverage, small businesses often choose to do so in order to attract and retain top talent.  According to NFIB, 56% of small employers offer health insurance, and 89% of small businesses with more than 30 employees   or offer health benefits.  As a small business owner myself, I learned that investing in the health of my employees paid long-term dividends, both in productivity and the morale of the company.  Unfortunately, it's getting more challenging for businesses of all sizes to offer competitive health care benefits to their employees.  I have often said that competition is the only way to bring down cost.   According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums for family coverage for employees have increased 7% in each of the last two years.  Rising costs have a disproportionate impact on small businesses as they are less able to absorb the impacts of rising healthcare costs.  94% of small employers find it challenging to manage the cost of their health plans, and 98% believe that the cost of their health plans will become unsustainable within this decade.   The Biden Harris administration's inflationary agenda, intent on tying the hands of employers with costly and burdensome regulations, contributed to the healthcare cost challenges that small businesses face today.  Fortunately, President Trump and House Republicans have common sense solutions to give small businesses flexibility to expand access and affordability to their healthcare offerings.
The first solution,   is expanding access to associated health plans, or AHPs.   And AHP allows employers to band together to purchase health coverage.  By combining purchasing power, small employers can negotiate more favorable rates, the same way that larger employers do.  In 2018, the Trump administration finalized a rule that expanded AHP availability to more businesses and to self-employed individuals.  However, this rule was regrettably tied up in the courts and ultimately reversed by the Biden administration.

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