Our day on the Hill
This week, 270 member executives and operational leads of our member firms gathered in Washington for our organization’s annual Legislative & Working Groups Summit. Our program this year featured
- Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair
- Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., House Financial Services Committee
- Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., House Majority Whip
- Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., Senate Banking Committee
- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Fmr. Presidential Candidate
- Charlie Cook, National Journal, Political Analyst
Council members had more than 100 meetings on Capitol Hill, including with House and Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle. Tops on our agenda was preservation of the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance.
Our message to Members of Congress this week was, and will continue to be, to keep their attention primarily focused on the individual marketplace—exchanges, market reforms, Medicaid, etc.—and not destabilize the employer-sponsored system that covers more than half of all Americans.
It would be a cruel hoax on the American public if replacement of the Affordable Care Act is a measure that now taxes the health benefits they receive through their employer. This one-pager lays it all out.
We feel that moved the dial in a major way but the biggest take away was that many Members of Congress are still learning of the impact the tax would have on the market. “Repeal & Replace” (or just “Repair”) is proving to take a lot longer than most in Congress thought it might take. With even President Trump saying that the process might go into 2018, we have a long fight ahead and we’ll need to exhibit a persistent vigilance in order to defend our priorities.
Please use these documents as you see fit to continue our fight to keep the ESI market intact, and keep your eyes here for updates as the process continues.
Brianne Spellane, Director of Communications & Content Strategy:
Meg Wroe, Director of Marketing & Strategic Initiatives:
- How Republicans Might ‘Repair’ Obamacare Before Repealing It (The Atlantic)
Michael Kanick, Digital Strategist: