Cramer: House Passes Obamacare Relief for Employers

Press Release

Congressman Kevin Cramer co-sponsored a bill passed by the House of Representatives last week providing relief and flexibility from the burdensome regulations for employers and workers under Obamacare.

H.R. 3798, the Save American Workers Act of 2018, changes Obamacare's definition of full-time work. It redefines full-time employees as those who work 40-hours per week, and full-time equivalents as 174-hours per month. In its employer mandate, Obamacare imposed a rigid definition of full-time work as 30-hours per week and 120-hours per month, causing employers to reduce hours of employees.

"This common sense legislation provides a good start in relieving some of the most onerous Obamacare regulations," said Cramer. "It removes the burden of new expenses for employers, which affect hiring and the number of hours their employees work. Instead of expanding healthcare coverage, the employer mandate more often reduced workers hours. This bill also repeals or delays other arbitrary and unfair Obamacare taxes and regulations, which have been a burden on employers."

The legislation provides retroactive relief between the years of 2015 and 2018 from the employer mandate, releasing employers who failed to provide government-approved coverage from owing penalties. It delays the implementation of the Obamacare Cadillac Tax until 2023, granting employers an additional year of relief from the punitive tax. It also repeals the 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services, which has resulted in increased costs and fewer jobs.

The bill also removes requirements to save insurers and some small employers time and money on compliance costs for the now-repealed Obamacare individual mandate.

Source