Health Care Priorities

Continue to work on favorable implementation of the health care law—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)—and ameliorate regulations to provide flexibility and best serve business needs.
Work to amend the PPACA through commonsense changes to employer requirements, taxation, and other burdens created under the law.

Continue to advocate for Medicare reform, which is integral to preserving the system’s long-term viability. Comprehensively reform Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that sets Medicare’s physician payments. Support a new reimbursement model that rewards quality and efficiency.
Oppose reimbursement cuts to the Medicare Advantage program.
Oppose government-imposed price controls on prescription drugs through the repeal of the Part D non-interference clause and support market competition.

Support reforming the medical tort system to make costs more affordable and predictable. Alternatively, medical cases could be tried in special administrative health courts, similar to bankruptcy courts, and in a wide range of other administrative courts.

Oppose legislative attempts to force employers to offer or maintain expensive retiree health plans.
Support efforts to preserve employer flexibility in creating, offering, and augmenting retiree health plans.
Support the creation of new and expanded options to encourage more employers to offer retiree health and encourage more workers to enroll in such plans.

Support raising awareness of the positive effects of workplace wellness and giving tax-favored status to programs aimed at keeping employees healthy.
Promote reforms that would permit greater variation of health premiums based on participation in wellness programs.
Support stand-alone legislation offering targeted tax credits for employer-sponsored workplace wellness programs for employees.
Support raising awareness through educational efforts such as National Workplace Wellness Week.

Oppose state and local efforts to circumvent ERISA preemption and interfere with self-insured plans.
Continue urging Congress not to dismantle the ERISA framework to ensure that employers can offer plans nationwide, providing fairness to all employees regardless of where they live, work, or receive medical care.
Continue co-chairing advocacy efforts in the National Coalition on Benefits, a broad coalition of groups dedicated to protecting ERISA.

Promote the repeal of the new law’s prohibition on the use of Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) funds to purchase over-the-counter items as well as repeal the new limitation on FSA contributions to $2500 per year.
Promote legislation allowing money in FSAs to be rolled over, thus eliminating the use-it-or-lose-it rule. The use-it-or-lose-it rule encourages unnecessary spending and overly conservative use of the accounts.
Support changes to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to make them more flexible and appealing to consumers and plan sponsors.
Support transparency efforts that aim to give employees more information about the quality and cost of health care so that they can be smart shoppers.

Oppose proposals that favor purchasing drugs from foreign nations that implement price controls and disadvantage American companies.
Oppose the unsafe importation of drugs that could be adulterated or counterfeit.
Oppose legislation that would create price controls on life sciences products and would raise prices for employers, employees, veterans, and others.

Work to ensure that cafeteria plans are accessible and beneficial to both employers and employees.
Continue to support legislation allowing SIMPLE cafeteria plans.
Urge Congress to change the law to allow self-employed individuals to participate in cafeteria plans.

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