Health Care Voucher Mandate Repealed

When congress approved legislation funding for the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year, it also cut the voucher mandate which was part of “Obamacare”.

The provision in the health care reform law required employers to offer low-wage employees company-paid vouchers to purchase coverage in state health insurance exchanges.

Business groups and others who feared the provision’s cost and administrative complexity welcomed the repeal of the voucher provision as part of the federal budget package.

“Employers detested it. Administratively, there would have been so many challenges,” said Gretchen Young, Senior VP with the ERISA Industry Committee in Washington.

“It was a complicated provision, with many unanswered questions,” said Paul Dennett, Senior VP of health care reform with the American Benefits Council in Washington.

The provision, to have gone into effect in 2014, would have been costly for employers with large numbers of low-paid workers.

Repeal of the voucher provision could foreshadow other Republican-led efforts to modify or repeal other provisions of the health care reform law as part of other “must-pass” bills this year and next. ◆