On June 9, ABC joined more than 50 organizations to send a letter to the U.S. Senate in support of maintaining a stable employer-sponsored health care system as the body works on legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“Chief among the threats to employer-sponsored coverage are proposals to tax workers’ health coverage, whether by preserving the ACA’s 40 percent ‘Cadillac’ tax or imposing new taxes on employee health care benefits,” according to the letter.

Although Senate leadership has indicated the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA) (H.R. 1628) will undergo revision before its vote, the letter voices support for nearly all of the provisions in the House-passed bill that reduce and eliminate taxes.

ABC has advocated for provisions in the AHCA that:

• Zero out the penalties for the employer mandate (retroactive to Jan. 1, 2016);
• Repeal the flexible spending account (FSA) contribution limit;
• Increase the maximum contribution limit on health savings accounts (HSAs);
• Repeal the restriction on over-the-counter medications for FSAs and HSAs;
• Repeal the net investment income tax;
• Repeal the Health Insurance Tax, also known as the HIT (ABC is a member of the Stop the HIT Coalition); and
• Repeal the medical device tax.

On May 4, 2017, ABC sent a letter in support of H.R. 1628 to the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed the bill by a vote of 217-213.

ABC will continue to provide updates in Newsline on the status of the AHCA and other health care issues that impact ABC members.