In a February 18, 2015 press release, Katie Vlietstra, vice president for government relations and public affairs for the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), an organization representing small businesses, offered reaction to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's announcement that it is delaying the enforcement of the technical guidance issued in September 2013 regarding Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), which NASE says is a key health care tool for America's small employers.

"The announcement today by the Treasury Department that it has offered a short-term delay in the enforcement of a prohibition on Health Reimbursement Arrangements is welcome news for our community, but a long-term legislative solution is still urgently needed," said Vlietstra. "America's small employers need the stability of a permanent fix in order to continue to utilize this critical tool to help provide health care coverage to their employees.

"We support Congressmen Boustany's and Thompson's plans [see below] to re-introduce their bipartisan legislation focused on offering a permanent correction to this issue," she continued. "This bipartisan legislation would order the IRS to reverse its regulation preventing small businesses from providing stand-alone HRAs so that they can support their employees and help them obtain affordable health care. Their legislation, combined with the momentum by Senate Republicans and Democrats to address this issue, will help millions of small business owners and should be passed by Congress as soon as possible.