Stuart M. Gerson, Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Health Care & Life Science practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Modern Healthcare, in “Association Health Plans Spark Tussle Between State Regulators, Business Groups,” by Harris Meyer. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green, who favors giving employers more flexibility on health plan design, said these regulatory clashes are the inevitable result of the Trump administration implementing a major change in this complex and controversial area through administrative action rather than legislation.
"This is a circus with multiple rings and multiple acts," he said, predicting the issue ultimately would have to be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. "A lot of this would have been avoidable if it had been done by statute."
For now, business groups have formed the Coalition to Protect and Promote Association Health Plan and are talking to state regulators who have been resistant to AHPs. The coalition members are pressing them to recognize legitimate AHPs as large-group plans under the new rule.
