Lawmakers Introduce Bill Preempting ACA Union Plan Exemption

Senators John Thune (R-SD), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Orrin Hatch (R- UT) introduced a bill (S. 1724) yesterday that would prevent the administration from exempting multi-employer health plans from a $63 reinsurance fee the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will impose on each enrollee in self-funded and fully-insured health plans beginning in 2014 through 2016.  Unions – whose members typically rely on multi-employer health insurance plans – have been vocal in their criticism of provisions of the ACA.

The reinsurance fee established under ACA Section 1341 was designed to mitigate the risk to insurance companies of signing up too few enrollees in the ACA exchange plans or of signing up too few young and healthy individuals in the plans. On October 30, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a rule finalizing a number of policies related to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, including provisions regarding the reinsurance fee. In the