Scott: Association Health Plans Shift Costs Onto Workers
WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1101, the Small Business Health Fairness Act, by a vote of 236-175, largely on party lines:
“H.R. 1101 would undermine the progress made under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), weaken state-level consumer protections and shift costs onto working people. This association health plan idea has been studied for years and it has been concluded that it’s a bad idea. Under the ACA, essentially everybody pays average. If you change that then arithmetic matters. If one group gets to pay less than average, then everybody else is going to pay more. And the association health plans, quite frankly, will always work for only a few people. If associations can draw out their own group, they will always pay less than the ones they left behind, because if the group turns out to have higher than average costs, the association will dissolve and everyone will go back to the regular insurance pool. Higher cost groups will be left behind and lower cost groups will segment out – until someone gets sick. Then the rates go above average and then the group will jump back into the insurance pool where they can enjoy average rates. Much like the Republican ACA repeal bill – which would cause 24 million Americans to lose their insurance and cause everyone else to pay more for less – and this bill moves the country in the wrong direction.”
FACT SHEET: The Small Business Health Fairness Act
FACT SHEET: What the Experts Are Saying About Association Health Plans (AHPs)
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