BIP Spring 2025

NABIP in Action

Healthcare advocacy in a new Trump era NABIP’s Michael Andel and Jen Berman highlight key priorities in protecting employee benefits, supporting Medicare agents and ensuring affordable coverage options.

W With the Trump administration now well into its first months back in office, NABIP is closely monitoring how early policy decisions will impact employer sponsored benefits, healthcare cost transparency and Medicare market stability. While healthcare

deductible health plans, enacting PBM reforms and advancing site neutral payment policies. Telehealth provisions, which had allowed people to access remote healthcare services without triggering out-of-pocket expenses, expired recently. NABIP wants to see these benefits reinstated. Similarly, PBM reforms and site-neutral payment policies, which ensure fair pricing regardless of where services are received, had bipartisan support but failed to cross the finish line. “These are all bipartisan issues that cleared committees last year, and we were surprised they didn’t make it through,” Andel adds. Tax policy and employee benefits A key concern for NABIP is protecting tax benefits tied to employer-sponsored health insurance. As the Trump administration and Congress prepare for a major tax bill — with many provisions from Trump’s first term expiring in 2025 — NABIP is advocating for preserving these benefits. “We want to say, ‘Don’t touch employer-sponsored benefits,’” Andel says, noting

that while these benefits seem secure, lawmakers are considering tax shifts that could put them in jeopardy. NABIP also supports maintaining the expanded Affordable Care Act tax credits introduced during COVID-19, which have made ACA marketplace plans more affordable for middle-income individuals. With over 24 million Americans signing up for ACA coverage this year, NABIP is highlighting the role of brokers and agents in helping consumers navigate these plans. “Agents are involved in the majority of enrollments,” Andel says. Ensuring continued affordability remains a priority. NABIP also supports preserving pass-through tax deductions for small businesses, which benefit many of our members who run independent agencies. Medicare market stability NABIP is closely monitoring Medicare policy, particularly concerning agent compensation. During the last enrollment period, when some health plans abruptly cut or reduced commissions, it disrupted

has not been a headline issue in the administration’s initial agenda, NABIP is actively engaging with policymakers to ensure that critical reforms remain a legislative priority. As the administration gets to work, NABIP is pushing to protect key tax benefits, finalize stalled healthcare legislation and advocate for agent compensation reforms that impact millions of Americans. Incomplete healthcare reforms One of NABIP’s main legislative goals is pushing Congress to complete several healthcare related bills that stalled at the end of the previous session. “We want Congress to finish the drill,” says Michael Andel, vice president of congressional affairs at NABIP. These include extending telehealth provisions for individuals with high-

6 bip magazine Spring 2025