Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) called the U.S. Treasury Department’s recent decision to delay an ObamaCare rule blocking businesses from using Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) as a way to reimburse employees without tax ramifications a “short-term fix.”
“The Obama administration continues to patch up ObamaCare with Scotch tape and glue through short-term fixes, rather than working through Congress to find permanent solutions,” Boustany said. “Today’s announcement shows the administration acknowledges that placing limitations on HRAs is bad policy, but a short-term delay just isn’t good enough for small businesses and their employees.”
Last year, Boustany and fellow lawmaker Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced the bipartisan Small Business Healthcare Relief Act, legislation that would permanently reverse the policy, and give more flexibility to businesses and their employees when working with health insurance coverage options. He plans to reintroduce the bill for the 114th Congress in the coming weeks.
“Moving forward, I will reintroduce my Small Business Healthcare Relief Act and aggressively pursue its signature into law,” Boustany promised. “The American people were promised choice and flexibility when making health care decisions – the Small Business Healthcare Relief Act will follow through on that promise. The administration, Republicans and Democrats should all support this common-sense and bipartisan bill.”