Below is a summary of significant health care reform developments over the past two weeks.

• GOP Repeal and Replace Efforts Stalled. After releasing a revised version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) on July 13, 2017, Senate Republican leadership pushed strongly for its passage. After the BCRA failed to get sufficient support, the Senate GOP turned its efforts to a “skinny” bill that would have repealed the individual and employer mandates, plus a few ACA-related taxes. The purpose of the skinny bill was to get a piece of legislation passed so that the Senate could conference with the House of Representatives and amend the legislation to include additional ACA repeal and replacement provisions. However, in the early morning hours of July 27^th, the skinny bill failed to pass. Therefore, GOP efforts to repeal and replace the ACA have stalled. Employers should continue administering their health plans in compliance with the ACA.
• Bipartisan Reform May be Coming. In the wake of the GOP’s failure to repeal and replace the ACA, a bipartisan group of House members has announced a preliminary framework for bipartisan reform designed to stabilize the individual insurance market. The “Problem Solvers Caucus,” consisting of 43 House Republicans and Democrats, proposed a variety of reforms, including Congressional oversight of cost-sharing reduction payments, a stability fund available to states to help reduce premiums, increasing the full-time employee threshold for applicable large employer status (currently 50) to 500, and repeal of the medical device tax.
• IRS Reaffirms Individual Mandate. On June 30, 2017, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel issued an information letter reaffirming the requirement to maintain minimum essential coverage and that the IRS intends to enforce the individual mandate. Additionally, the IRS addressed the impact of President Trump’s Executive Order Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal (issued January 20, 2017). The IRS noted that although this Executive order directed regulatory agencies to exercise discretion to reduce ACA-related burdens, it did not change the legislative provisions of the ACA (such as the requirement to have minimum essential coverage or make a shared responsibility payment).