Kelly Hooper, who covers health care for Politico, contacted the HRA Council about our educational outreach to states. Here's the link to the story: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2024/09/states-embrace-trump-era-health-insurance-policy-00177827
Following are excerpts:
The states’ interest coincides with growing investments in these types of plans from health insurance companies, which see a way to attract new customers to their individual market plans. These are especially important to health insurers as the small group market dwindles in many states and enhanced Obamacare subsidies allow more people to afford individual coverage.
“Every state we talk to, they're interested in this,” said Robin Paoli, executive director of the HRA Council, a coalition of insurers and employers that supports ICHRAs. “It can look different and be described differently, and the public approach might differ between different states, but that underlying interest is, ‘It's good for residents, it's good for the state.’”
ICHRAs provide workers with a tax-free credit to purchase Obamacare plans on the individual market. They’re an alternative for businesses that find it too expensive to purchase traditional group health plans.
“Even in states where there is a more steady, small group market, I don't think anyone opposes more options or alternatives for employers and employees,” said Cathy Grason, head of government affairs at Oscar Health. “It's not a mandate, it's just another alternative.”
The HRA Council has met with Republicans and Democrats on the Hill this year to push for a bill that would codify ICHRA without any add-ons, said Kyle Estep, the senior vice president of strategy and partnerships at Take Command, an ICHRA administrator, who attended the meetings.
“Codification is really the most important step in just providing greater certainty around this as a longer-term bipartisan opportunity for employers to take a different approach to how they do health insurance and give their employees more choice,” he said.
