Juliana Reno was quoted on June 20, 2018, in an article in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) about a rule finalized by the Department of Labor (DOL) on June 19, 2018, that will make it easier for small businesses to band together to buy health insurance without some of the regulatory requirements that individual states and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) impose on smaller employers.
According to the DOL, the final rule "does not diminish state oversight, which remains in place. States will share enforcement authority with the federal government."
Commenting on state and federal regulations’ impact on Association Health Plans (AHPs), Ms. Reno said that AHPs, as they currently exist, "are already regulated by both states and the federal government. It is confusing and will continue to be so," as AHPs expand under the new regulations.
The compliance challenges of navigating the intersection of federal and state law "will probably be addressed by the association," she noted. "The small business challenge will be doing an apples-to-apples comparison of their options, because small group plans and AHPs may be following different rules."