U.S. Chamber of Commerce Supports Health Insurance Subsidies to Overcome COVID-19

by Peter Johnson

In a notable reversal, U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the American Hospital Association (AHA) in supporting broad — but temporary — federal involvement in health insurance markets during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an April 28 letter to congressional leadership, the groups endorsed several policies designed to help preserve health insurance coverage, saying Congress should consider them in "the next round of legislation to overcome COVID-19." The five specific policies the letter called for are:

✦ Subsidies to employers for health benefits;
✦ Full federal payment of employers' share of COBRA benefits;
✦ Expanded use of health savings accounts;
✦ A special enrollment period for health exchanges, including HealthCare.gov; and
✦ Subsidies to help higher earnings buy health exchange plans.

Dan Mendelson, the founder of consulting firm Avalere Health, says the Chamber's backing of these policies would give political cover to Republican members of Congress to do the same. The Chamber was one of the most prominent lobbying groups to oppose the Affordable Care Act and has close institutional ties to the Republican Party.

"To have the Chamber backing [those policies] is definitely meaningful, given the political leanings of the membership of the Chamber," Mendelson tells AIS Health.

Still, in a conference call discussing the letter with the press, Neil Bradley, the Chamber's chief strategy officer, emphasized the group's new position is limited to the duration of the crisis.

"It's got to be timely, temporary and targeted," Bradley said. "No one is trying to rewrite long-term policy here. We're trying to address immediate needs. As we've seen with a whole host of other programs, it's important to be able to leverage existing delivery mechanisms in order to provide aid when it's needed in a timely fashion."

Of the five policies mentioned in the letter, Mendelson says COBRA subsidies are most likely to pass Congress. House Democrats have already proposed a bill that would have the government pay all of employers' COBRA costs, and Mendelson suggests the Chamber's endorsement will help Republicans support it.

"Given a choice, most members of Congress would prefer to see a preservation of private insurance as opposed to having states assume Medicaid liability," Mendelson says.

From Health Plan Weekly