"With the latest legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) dispatched by the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of absence of 'legal standing,' the health care policy world returns to a state of cautious certainty," American Benefits Council President James A. Klein said today.
Council Statement for the House Ways and Means Worker Family and Support Subcommittee Hearing Record on Universal Paid Leave and Guaranteed Access to Child Care
Comparison of Provisions in the Securing A Strong Retirement Act (H.R. 2954, Neal/Brady) and the Retirement Security And Savings Act (S. 1770, Cardin/Portman)
Thank you for your work to address the pressing issue of missing and unresponsive participants in retirement plans. We welcome the introduction of your legislation, the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Act of 2021, and appreciate the opportunity to have communicated regularly with your staff as you developed this bill.
On May 20, 2021, Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH) reintroduced their Retirement Security and Savings Act (S. 1770), a bipartisan measure to enhance retirement security. This bill follows on very similar legislation introduced by the Senators in the previous Congress, builds on the the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, enacted in 2019, and contains a number of provisions that are similar to those in the Securing a Strong Retirement Act (H.R. 2954), sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) and the committee's Ranking Republican Kevin Brady (R-TX) and approved by the committee on May 5, 2021.
The Council strongly supports the ability for health plans and health care providers to share data and coordinate care in order to offer innovative benefits and address real-time health needs of enrollees. We also support enrollees being able to access their own data and to direct their information. We applaud the Office of Civil Rights' (OCR's) timely response to requests for increased transparency and care coordination.
We understand that these Proposed Rules largely are directed at health care providers. However, these regulatory changes directly impact health plans that are HIPAA covered entities as well. For the most part, health plans are fully involved in care coordination activities and support the exchange of information for care coordination and transparency purposes. Nevertheless, as outlined below, we are writing to raise three issues for OCR to consider that are important for the administration of health plans and the vital health benefits that they provide throughout the country.
"We urge Congress to seize the opportunity to finally enable nationwide employers to provide consistent paid leave benefits to their workers and relieve severe administrative burdens imposed by wildly inconsistent state and city laws," American Benefits Council President James A. Klein said today, referring to two newly-released proposals – one by President Biden and the other by U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA).
