Washington - Business Roundtable today issued the following statement after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored provisions in the Build Back Better Act that expand Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax subsidies to working Americans who already have employer-sponsored coverage:
“CBO’s recent estimate that 2.8 million fewer people would enroll in employer-sponsored insurance coverage makes clear that the ACA provisions included in the Build Back Better Act would undermine the integrity of the ACA employer ‘firewall’ and threaten the health coverage of 158 million Americans and their families who receive health coverage through their job. Encouraging some employees to forgo their employer-sponsored coverage for subsidized coverage through an exchange would undermine the careful balance the ACA made in support of the employer-sponsored health care system—putting it at risk.
“Business Roundtable believes that all individuals should have meaningful access to affordable coverage. Especially during the ongoing pandemic, Congress should focus on finding affordable options for the less than 10 million individuals who do not have access to affordable coverage without threatening the health insurance on which nearly half of American workers rely.”
The Build Back Better Act proposes providing ACA tax subsidies for the first time since their inception to some American workers who already have affordable coverage from their employer. It also makes permanent changes to those ACA subsidies, which will make it more expensive for employers to continue to offer lower-cost, high quality health care to their employees. For more on the Roundtable’s support for preserving employer-sponsored coverage, visit businessroundtable.org.