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04/03/2019

Coalition Warns of Ripple Effects From Ruling on AHPs

A federal court has invalidated the DOL's AHP regulations

Last week’s federal court ruling invalidating Department of Labor (DOL) regulations issued last year for association health plans (AHPs) creates uncertainty for organizations that were working to implement plans and imperils coverage for members, according to the Coalition to Protect and Promote Association Health Plans.

“An immediate stop to AHPs would result in thousands of people losing their current healthcare coverage,” the coalition said in a news release. “Those impacted include self-employed farmers and real estate agents and employees of small businesses whose employers cannot afford health coverage in the existing small group market.” The coalition includes ASAE and almost two dozen other national and state-level associations.

Ruling in a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of 11 states and the District of Columbia, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates called the regulations “clearly an end run” around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and said they were incompatible with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which provides the existing framework for employer-sponsored health plans.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.

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