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Small‑business owners press Congress to protect self‑insurance, telehealth and direct primary care options
Summary
Small‑business witnesses told a House subcommittee that rising premiums and limited marketplace options are forcing employers to pursue self‑insurance, level‑funded plans, telehealth and direct primary care; they urged passage of bills to protect stop‑loss insurance and permanently preserve pandemic-era telehealth expansions.
Marcy Strauss, a benefits consultant testifying for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and other witnesses described a range of employer-driven innovations—self‑insurance with stop‑loss (reinsurance), level‑funded plans, direct primary care (DPC), reference‑based pricing and telehealth—that they said helped small employers control costs and maintain benefits.
Strauss said small employers in Iowa face sharply higher premiums: "In Polk County where I live, family premiums for small group plans have gone up 85% in…
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