The Financial Services Institute gets calls from advisors every day asking one question: Where can I get affordable health insurance?
That’s why FSI is supporting a federal Department of Labor rule that would allow associations to offer health insurance plans to their members. But the rule is facing a court challenge, said Chris Paulitz, senior vice president of FSI’s membership and marketing, during a press briefing at the FSI’s One Voice conference today.
States and others are challenging the association health plan (AHP) rule, saying it will undermine the Affordable Care Act and result in stripped-down plans with fewer benefits being provided to individuals. A dozen state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit asking the courts to strike down the AHP rule. District Court Judge John Bates is hearing the case.
On December 19, FSI, as part of a coalition of associations, filed an amicus brief supporting the DOL’s AHP rule. To strengthen its advocacy efforts on this issue, FSI joined a coalition of 22 other associations that want to offer quality, comprehensive health coverage, through association health plans, to their respective members.
If the AHP rule is upheld, it would allow associations to offer a variety of plans that don’t need to meet the mandates currently set out in the ACA, Paulitz said. While the plans wouldn’t work for everyone, individual association members could purchase less comprehensive plans for less money or a more expensive plan if they wanted more coverage, Paulitz said.
Broker-dealer and advisory firms would not be able to buy the plans on behalf of their employees, but FSI has 33,000 individual members, including sole practitioners, who would be eligible to purchase the plans, he added. Overall, FSI has about 100 member firms with a total of 160,000 advisors.
FSI already offers members long-term group and individual disability policies, plus group term insurance, Paulitz said.
He added that he expects the court case to be decided in March.