WASHINGTON, DC–(Marketwired – Jun 22, 2016) – The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) applauds the House Republican Task Force on Health Care Reform’s recognition of the important role that employers play in providing affordable, high-quality coverage to working Americans and their families and in driving innovation in the delivery of health care. However, the NBGH, a non-profit association of 425 large U.S. employers, expresses concern that changes to the tax treatment of employer-sponsored health benefits would make it more costly for employers to offer and employees to afford coverage.
The House Republican Task Force today released an issue brief offering recommendations to reform health care. The recommendations include repealing the Affordable Care Act, improving access to lower cost coverage, protecting the most vulnerable individuals, promoting health care innovation, and modifying some aspects of Medicare.
Brian Marcotte, President and CEO of NBGH, offered the following comments:
“We are grateful that the issue brief acknowledges the importance of employer-sponsored coverage to employees and their families. Employer coverage is a source of innovation in payment and delivery and is coverage that employees value highly and can count on.
“While the Business Group supports many of the recommendations, including expanding the flexibility of Health Savings Accounts, eliminating the excise tax on employer plans, protecting wellness programs, and adopting comprehensive health care legal reforms, all of which help assure more affordable, quality health care, we are concerned that Congress take no action to adversely impact employers’ ability to offer health benefits nor employees’ ability to afford them.
“Rather than taxing benefits, we encourage Congress to focus more on removing payment incentives for health care providers and suppliers that drive unnecessary health care spending. This includes moving faster toward paying for value in Medicare rather than volume, and ridding Medicare of financial incentives that encourage providers to use more expensive care in more expensive settings when lower cost alternatives of equal or better quality exist.”
Steve Wojcik, vice president, public policy at NBGH, added: “The Business Group looks forward to working with members of Congress to safeguard this valuable source of coverage for working Americans and their families and to drive effective payment and delivery reforms.”
About the National Business Group on Health®
The National Business Group on Health is the nation’s only non-profit organization devoted exclusively to representing large employers’ perspective on national health policy issues and helping companies optimize business performance through health improvement, innovation and health care management. The Business Group leads initiatives to address the most relevant health care issues facing employers today and enables human resource and benefit leaders to learn, share and leverage best practices from the most progressive companies. Business Group members, which include 72 Fortune 100 companies, provide health coverage for more than 50 million U.S. workers, retirees and their families. For more information, visit www.businessgrouphealth.org
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