TAB’s Agenda for a Healthier Texas

More than half of Texans receive coverage through their employer. This coverage supports job creation and increases access to care. However, state mandates and overregulation make health insurance unaffordable for more and more Texas employers. And employers who maintain coverage are stuck passing on higher premiums, copays, and deductibles to employees in order to help manage costs.

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When we surveyed Texas businesses:

87% of Texas employers say that health care costs are rising at an unsustainable rate.
78% of Texas employers rank healthcare costs as one of the top issues affecting their business.
87% agree that Texas businesses should stand together against legislation that increases the cost of employer-paid health care coverage.
77% agree that the legislature should give employers more flexibility to contain costs.
86% agree that the legislature should require all providers to disclose their prices publicly.
Three-quarters of Texas employers say they oppose legislative mandates that interfere with how they design benefits for employees.

To create a healthier Texas, TAB’s agenda to promote employer-sponsored coverage includes:

Protect employers from legislation that increases their health insurance costs

- This means saying no to overregulation and new mandates that drive up the cost of coverage.
- It also means requiring an estimate of how much new health care regulations will cost Texas businesses. Legislators find out the cost of mandates to their own health coverage from the state—they should give the same consideration to Texas families.

Expand the choices available for employers to purchase health insurance

- HB 1001 will give Texas employers, especially small businesses, better and more affordable options for health care coverage through new health insurance plans that meet all the federal requirements for coverage without additional state mandates. This mandate-lite coverage gives affordable options to employers to offer employees the insurance they need.

Improve the efficiency of health care delivery system

- This includes expanding the use of telehealth, removing barriers to practice for advanced practice nurses, and supporting value-based care models that improve health outcomes and reduce costs.

Support better value care

- This means cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse across the health care market, empowering patients to seek out high-value care including promoting price transparency and protecting the ability of health benefit plans to negotiate contracts with physicians and providers without government interference.

To learn more about what TAB is doing to stop escalating health care costs and how we are working to keep this a business-friendly state, sign up for updates.

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