Morning Consult
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) may be a doctor, but he obviously doesn’t have the cure for what ails small businesses. During a discussion on health care policy in his home state, Paul said President Donald Trump is likely to legalize association health plans on the federal level, which would allow more groups of similar businesses to band together to purchase insurance. Paul claims this would allow small businesses to negotiate lower rates and insure more people, but what he and others who support this idea fail to understand is that these plans would actually do the opposite.
Some lawmakers, including Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Paul, have long touted association health plans as a great solution to the health care needs of small businesses. Unfortunately, Enzi and Paul simply don’t understand what would actually happen to insurance markets if these plans were ever widely available. Small businesses frequently buy plans through the small-group market, which is subject to different rules and protections than the large-group market. The regulatory difference between the two is significant. As a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation noted, plans sold in the large-group market can charge people more based on their health status, and they’re not required to cover essential health benefits like prescription drugs, emergency services or maternity care. However, Obamacare-compliant plans in the small-group market provide protections against being charged more based on health, age or gender and include these essential benefits.
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