The National Association of Health Underwriters is the leading professional association for health insurance agents, brokers, general agents, and consultants. NAHU members work every day with individuals, families, and employers of all sizes to help them purchase health insurance coverage and use that coverage in the best possible way. We are a dedicated group of more than 100,000 benefit specialists across the nation who advocate on behalf of our clients – American health insurance consumers.

The professional health insurance agent and broker community looks forward to the potential opportunities of working toward healthcare stability. To make the healthcare insurance market more efficient and more responsive to American employers and individual health consumers, we believe some changes need to be made to ensure access, choice, and affordability. As we look forward to the commencement of the 115th Congress, we anticipate that a reconciliation bill will be introduced to repeal budget-relevant provisions of the Affordable Care Act. We would like to respectfully recommend the repeal of the following items be included in any such reconciliation legislation:

Premium Tax Credits, Cost-Sharing Tax Credits, and Tax Credits to Territories

Repeal of these tax credits, but a suggested delay of the effective date to January 2019 in order to allow time for a replacement mechanism to be put in place to prevent a destabilization of the market by the immediate implementation of the repeal of these tax credits.

Small Business Tax Credit

Repeal of the small business tax credit with a suggested delay of the effective date to January 2019 to allow for any businesses currently qualifying from the small business tax credit to receive the benefit through the two-year maximum allotted for, and to prevent a destabilization of the small group market by the immediate implementation of the repeal of these tax credits.

Repeal of the Individual Mandate Penalty

In order to comply with the budget-relevant provisions of reconciliation, we request a repeal of the individual mandate penalty and further action to repeal the individual mandate in future legislation.

Repeal of Employer Mandate Penalty

In order to comply with the budget-relevant provisions of reconciliation, we request a repeal of the employer mandate penalty and further action to repeal the employer mandate in future legislation.

Repeal of Health Insurance Tax

Permanently eliminate the national premium tax (HIT tax) that will add more than $500 annually in costs to a typical family policy, with the total cost in 2016 of $11.3 billion.

Repeal Excise/Cadillac Tax

Permanently repeal the “Cadillac Tax,” which will impose a 40% excise tax on health plans that exceed certain cost thresholds beginning in 2020, following the two-year delay passed in December 2015.

Repeal of Medical Loss Ratio Requirement

A full repeal of the medical loss ratio requirement that carriers must abide by. Lifting the restriction that 80% of premium dollars must be spent on medical costs and 20% on administrative costs will provide relief to health insurance carriers struggling to meet the current restrictions, which will result in lowering premium costs and encouraging carriers to remain in the health insurance market. Since health insurance plans have already been approved for 2017, we suggest an effective date of January 1, 2018.

Source: National Association of Health Underwriters