Dear Representatives Walberg, Burgess, Allen, and Foxx,
The HR Policy Association and the American Health Policy Institute writes with our support for the Association Health Plans Act of 2021 (H.R. 4547). We appreciate your leadership in acknowledging that employers of all sizes should have the ability to provide low cost, high-quality coverage to their employees.
The HR Policy Association (“the Association”) is the leading organization representing chief human resource officers of over 390 of the largest employers in the United States. Collectively, their companies provide health care coverage to over 21 million employees and dependents in the United States and spend more than $120 billion annually on health care benefits and related taxes. The American Health Policy Institute, which was created by the Association, serves to examine the challenges employers face in providing health care to their employees and recommends policy solutions to promote the provision of affordable, high-quality, employer-based health care.
Employers have a vested interest in the wellbeing of their employees. However, new research from the Harvard Business School finds nearly one-third of employers surveyed weren’t sure they could pay their health care premiums beyond August 15, 2020, and “absent additional relief—and soon—providers and policymakers should expect much greater disruption in insurance coverage going forward.” Enabling association health plans and eliminating unnecessary barriers to affordable coverage is a crucial step in promoting health care access and affordability for Americans working for small businesses.
Thank you for your leadership in introducing H.R. 4547. We look forward to working with you and your colleagues in a bipartisan manner to allow small employers the flexibility needed to provide their employees with the best possible health coverage.
Sincerely,
D. Mark Wilson
President and CEO, American Health Policy Institute
Vice President, Health & Employment Policy, HR Policy Association
