Trump-inspired bill could convert ACA subsidy money into health spending cash

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is already drafting a bill that would put a version of that idea in legislative language, according to a recent report in the Washington Examiner.

For at least some ACA exchange plan purchasers, a portion of the ACA subsidy support would go into a flexible spending account. The holder could use the cash to pay eligible health care expenses, such as covering the cost of copayments and deductibles. Any unused cash in the accounts would eventually return to the federal government.

The bill has not yet been introduced. Representatives from Cassidy's office were not immediately available to comment on the report.

What it means: For employers and benefits advisors the takeaway is that a surge of health care and health insurance legislation is forming.

A Cassidy ACA premium tax credit bill might have no direct effect on traditional employer health plans, but it could serve as a high-profile tugboat that would pull health benefits bills through Congress.

Contenders for benefits bill tugboat services could include pharmacy benefit manager oversight bills, health savings account tweaks and a bill that would put the individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement program in federal law.

Today, the federal government makes ICHRA plans available through federal regulations, not through an ICHRA law.

The Cassidy proposal could also make low-income and moderate-income workers more familiar with the idea of personal health accounts and make employers' FSAs, health reimbursement arrangements and health savings accounts more popular.

For the companies that administer FSAs, HRAs and other health accounts, the Cassidy proposal could create new health account administration opportunities.