7 April 2017Analysis

US House of Representatives passes self-insurance bill


The US House of Representatives have passed a self-insurance bill that is aimed at ensuring workers and employers can continue having access to affordable and flexible health plans.

HR 1304, or the Self-Insurance Protection Act (SIPA), reaffirms the long-standing policy that stop-loss insurance is not deemed as health insurance, and clarifies that federal regulators cannot redefine these insurance plans in future administrations.

Supported by the Self-Insurance Institute of America (SIIA), SIPA aims to ensure that small and mid-sized private sector employers are able to continue to provide quality health benefits to their workers and members through self-insured group health plans.

SIIA suggests that SIPA accomplishes this by ensuring federal regulators cannot re-define stop-loss insurance under traditional ‘health insurance’ under the law.

“Such a designation would effectively force these self-insured entitiesto discontinue their plans,” said SIIA. “This regulatory threat surfaced during the prior administration and, while not a likely development given the current administration, SIIA believes it is important to codify this protection now to head off any similar regulatory threats in the future.”

61 percent of all employers offering health care coverage were self-insured in 2016, according to the House Education and Workforce Committee.

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