Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense Arrangement Act
Floor Speech
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Mrs. HAYES. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to the CHOICE Arrangement Act.
This bill, as written, makes healthcare less accessible and affordable for our most at-risk workers. My amendment prevents older workers from obscene healthcare premiums and discrimination.
As of January 2023, a record 16.3 million people, including older Americans, were insured under the Affordable Care Act.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, under the Affordable Care Act, older adults' uninsured rate has dropped by one- third, a factor that is a key indicator their health and wellness has improved. Further, they are now protected from coverage exclusions and cost increases due to preexisting conditions.
In 2019, people aged 55 to 64 had the lowest uninsured rate among nonelderly adults, but instead of working to build upon this success, my colleagues are bolstering individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements and association health plans which have a long, well- documented history of cutting costs for themselves by cherry-picking the cheapest people to cover, leaving the more expensive and vulnerable ones behind. This raises costs for those not chosen and causes premiums to go up for the rest of the insurance market.
Republicans have been pushing these efforts for decades, and experts have consistently found it to be harmful. In its final rule adopted in 2018 by the Trump administration, the Department of Labor acknowledged as much, noting the ``AHPs could use their regulatory flexibility to design more tailored, less comprehensive health coverage . . . Which will necessarily lead to some favorable risk selection toward AHPs and adverse selection against individuals and small group markets.''
They predicted this would raise premiums for consumers who are left behind in the small group and individual markets.
For decades, independent experts at the American Academy of Actuaries and the Congressional Budget Office have repeatedly found premiums for older workers would be higher as a result of the association health plan legislation.
The bill has only superficial protections from discrimination based on health status and is entirely silent on discrimination and pricing against older individuals. In fact, by explicitly allowing associations to base premiums on the risk factor on each employee within the group, it invites them to discriminate against other characteristics.
My amendment requires the Department of Labor to certify that the bill would not raise premiums for older Americans before taking effect.
I ask my colleagues to support my amendment to protect older Americans and implore that we work together to address the real healthcare problems in our Nation and move toward a more equitable healthcare system for older workers.
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Mrs. HAYES. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), who is the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
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Mrs. HAYES. Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment to protect older Americans with preexisting conditions.
The ACA expanded Medicaid for low-income Americans and protected coverage for people with preexisting conditions. We want to make sure we continue that tradition and make sure that the CHOICE Arrangement Act will not go into effect until the Secretary of Labor certifies that this bill will not result in higher premiums for older Americans and seniors. It is critical that we protect this access.
Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mrs. HAYES. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
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