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On June 22, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) was joined by six other Democratic House committee chairs in a press conference releasing the  Democratic Infrastructure Bill, H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act.  

On June 26, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved the Lower Health Care Costs Act (S. 1895) by a bipartisan vote of 20-3. This bill seeks to address several cost-driver issues within our nation’s health care system including protecting patients from surprise medical billing and increasing transparency within health care.

On May 9, the White House held a summit on protecting Americans from surprise medical billing, which occurs when insured patients incur unexpected charges after receiving treatment from out-of-network health care providers. On April 2, ABC joined a broad-based coalition in a letter to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions to hold a hearing to examine surprise billing.

On March 28, 2019, a federal judge ruled that parts of the Trump administration’s 2018 final rule on association health plans were invalid. The U.S. Department of Labor has been directed to reconsider how the rest of the rule is affected by this ruling.

On Feb. 28, ABC, as a member of the Partnership for Employer-sponsored Coverage, sent a letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, providing recommendations on how to address America’s rising health care costs.

ABC urged the U.S. House of Representatives to pass two bills that would modernize vital health care programs and provide much-needed relief to small businesses and their employees, designating them as key votes for its scorecard on the 115th Congress on July 23.

On July 11, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee held a full committee markup of numerous health care bills aimed at expanding access to health savings accounts (HSAs) and lowering health care premiums for American employers and employees.

ABC said the Trump administration’s action to undo the harmful impacts of the Affordable Care Act by promulgating a new final rule on association health plans (AHPs) was welcome. AHPs are a common-sense solution to expand access to affordable health coverage and lower the cost of health care for small businesses.

On March 20, 2018, ABC joined leading employer organizations to form the Partnership for Employer-Sponsored Coverage (P4ESC). The coalition will work to strengthen and protect employment-based health care coverage and will champion solutions to protect these benefits for hardworking Americans.

On Jan. 22, President Trump signed a stopgap spending bill (H.R.195) to end the government shutdown and fund government operations through Feb. 8. Included in the bill was a suspension for 2019 of the health insurance tax (HIT) on providers included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 

On Oct. 17, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) announced a short-term deal aimed at stabilizing the individual health insurance market and lowering the costs of premiums.

On Sept. 26, U.S. Senate leadership announced there will not be a vote on the latest version of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill. Named after its four sponsors, the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson bill aimed to repeal parts of the ACA and change its federal funding system with annual block grants to states to help individuals pay for health care.

On July 25, the U.S. Senate voted to begin debate on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Senate voted 51-50, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie, in support of moving forward with debate on H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act. In advance of the vote, ABC sent a key vote letter urging senators to vote “yes” on the motion to proceed. The Senate will now move forward with 20 hours of debate and most likely vote on dozens of amendments.

On June 22, the U.S. Senate issued the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, a substitute to the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would repeal and replace several provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The Senate bill was slated for a vote this week; however, on June 27 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) delayed the vote until after the July 4 recess due to a lack of support for passage. 

On May 24, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report with estimates on the costs and overall effect of H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act. This is the third report to come from the CBO since the bill was introduced in March. If the U.S. Senate passes the bill in its current form, the CBO estimates that the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $119 bil

The U.S. House of Representatives took steps to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act by passing H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act (AHCA) on May 4. H.R. 1628 repeals several of the most harmful and burdensome provisions of the ACA, including the employer mandate penalty, costly tax increases and limitations on contributions to and restrictions on the use of flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts. ABC sent a letter in support of H.R. 1628 to the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed the House by a vote of 217-213. The bill now awaits action in the U.S. Senate.

During the week of March 20, Republican Leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives scheduled a vote on H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would have repealed and replaced the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ABC joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several other organizations on March 22, in sending a letter to the House in support of AHCA. However, by late Friday afternoon on March 24, House Republican leadership pulled the bill due to a lack of votes needed for passage. Based on recent statements made by President Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan, focus will now turn to tax reform and infrastructure spending.  

On March 22, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Small Business Health Fairness Act (H.R. 1101), which would allow small businesses access to quality, affordable health care coverage through Association Health Plans (AHPs). The bill passed by a vote of 236-175.

On March 6, as part of the U.S. House of Representatives Republicans' American Health Care Act, the House Committees on Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce issued proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The committees will mark up their bills on Wednesday, March 8 and then send the proposals to the Budget Committee.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Restoring Access to Medications Act (H.R. 1270 ) July 6, which would roll back a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires prescriptions for over-the-counter medications purchased under flexible spending arrangements and health savings accounts. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), passed the House 243-164  in a bi-partisan vote.

On April 28, ABC submitted a letter to the chairmen of the congressional Task Force on Health Care Reform urging them to take action on common-sense health care solutions.  In the letter, ABC expressed its strong support for the task force’s mission to “modernize American health care with a patient-centered system that gives patients more choice and control, increases quality, and reduces costs.”

On April 12, ABC joined more than 60 national and multi-state organizations across the country in sending a letter  to members of the House Committee on Ways and Means urging them to take action on the Small Business Healthcare Relief Act (H.R. 2911 ).  The bill would allow small businesses that have fewer than 50 employees to offer employer payment plans and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) to employees for the payment of premiums or qualified medical expenses associated with insurance coverage.

ABC and 40 of its chapters joined the More Time for Full-Time Initiative in urging the Senate to co-sponsor the Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2015 which would restore the traditional definition of full-time employment to 40 hours per week in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)which currently defines full-time as at least 30 hours per week. 

The U.S. House of Representatives Jan. 8 voted 252-172 to pass the ABC-supported Save American Workers Act (H.R. 30), which would replace the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) definition of “full time” as 30 hours or more per week with the traditional definition of 40 hours. Before the vote, ABC sent a letter urging Congress to support the bill and markedit as “Key Vote” for their 114th Congressional Scorecard because under the ACA’s current 30-hour rule, many employers will be forced to reduce employee work hours and wages.