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Compliance August 26, 2010
Senator Announces Support for Repeal of Health Reform Employer Mandate
August 26, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) announced that four groups representing employers have endorsed his legislation, the American Job Protection Act, repealing the employer mandate in the new health reform law.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
The American Job Protection Act would strike those provisions in the health law forcing employers to provide health insurance for their employees or face a penalty. The United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the National Association of Wholesalers (NAW), and the National Retail Federation (NRF) endorsed Hatch’s legislation.
Hatch claimed in his announcement that: “Business owners in Utah and across the country have told me that the $2.6 trillion health law and its punitive employer mandate is a significant reason they aren’t putting more Americans back to work.”
In addition, both NFIB and NRF also endorsed Hatch’s legislation, the American Liberty Restoration Act, repealing the individual mandate requiring people to purchase health insurance.
Utah was in the original group of 13 states that filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate minutes after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law. The number of states fighting the law has grown to 20, and in May, the NFIB joined the lawsuit (see Business Group Joins HCR Challenge).