Sec. 1. Findings; purpose
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Congress makes the following findings: According to the most recent United States Census, employer-based health insurance is the largest source of health insurance coverage in the United States. Of those employed, 70 percent receive employment-based health insurance. Of unemployed Americans, 30 percent receive employer-sponsored health insurance. Despite the large percentages of coverage, as health care costs climb, the percentage of Americans who receive health insurance through employers has fallen significantly over the last decade—from 70 percent nationwide in 2000 to 60 percent in 2011, according to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
According to recent surveys done by the National Business Group on Health and the Kaiser Family Foundation, most companies continue to provide health insurance for employees and wish to continue doing so into the future. Employers who offer insurance will not contribute additional risk to the health insurance exchanges established in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (in this Act referred to as PPACA ). The transitional reinsurance program, established in section 1341 of PPACA, is intended to stabilize risk in the individual health insurance market during the first three years of the health insurance exchanges, as established by that Act.
PPACA also requires that the Treasury collect a fee for each employer-sponsored covered life in order to pay for the transitional reinsurance program. This fee is a disincentive for employers to continue offering coverage to all employees, and does not give employers any benefits of the transitional reinsurance program. It is the purpose of this Act to remove the current funding mechanism for the transitional reinsurance program. Employer-sponsored insurance should be supported so that Americans can sustain quality health coverage.