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Committee debates tax exclusion for employer contributions to health care sharing programs; no vote taken
Summary
Representative Randy Torres presented a bill to extend the same income-tax exclusion currently available for employer-paid health insurance to employer contributions for health care sharing ministries and similar programs. DFA indicated the bill has a physical fiscal impact and the committee did not vote at this hearing.
Representative Randy Torres introduced House Bill 1698, which would allow employers and self-employed people to deduct from Arkansas taxable income employer-paid contributions to health care sharing ministries and similar medical cost-sharing programs, the sponsor said.
Torres said the change would treat employer payments to such programs the same as employer-paid health insurance under current state law. He told the committee that national membership in health care sharing programs has grown from about 200,000 in February 2010 to about 1.7 million today, and that the bill would let employees who receive employer contributions to such programs exclude those amounts from taxable income.
The committee chair noted the bill has a physical fiscal impact and that the committee could debate it but would not take a vote at this hearing. Torres said the bill would "open the door to more affordable health care options" and described potential benefits for employees and small businesses. The transcript shows no public testimony for or against the bill and no committee vote was taken during the provided segment.
