Urges House not to make changes to tax treatment of employer-sponsored health insurance
For Immediate Release
Washington, DC. – The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) today submitted written testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions regarding the tax treatment of health care and the important role that employers serve in providing health care coverage to workers and their families. ERIC, the only national association advocating for the benefit interests of the country’s largest employers, is extremely concerned that changes to the tax treatment of employer-sponsored health plans would greatly diminish the ability of employers to offer health insurance to employees, retirees, and their families, and would hamper the innovations employers drive to improve health care quality and lower costs.
In its testimony to both committees, ERIC highlighted that employer-sponsored health plans allow employers to tailor benefits to their own unique workforce. ERIC also stressed the vital role employer-sponsored plans play in developing and implementing efforts to increase health care quality, including offering onsite health clinics that allow employees to receive care immediately; telehealth initiatives that provide employees and their families access to high-quality care no matter where they live; employer efforts in pioneering wellness programs, coordination of care; and other medical innovations.
“ERIC encourages Congress to recognize the important role employers serve in the health care system, and we call on Congress to help strengthen that system by retaining the current tax treatment of health care. Instead of threatening the employer-sponsored plans that more than 175 million Americans enjoy, Congress should explore reducing onerous rules and regulations on employer-sponsored plans, and fully repealing the 40 percent health care “Cadillac” excise tax,” said Annette Guarisco Fildes, president and CEO, ERIC.