June 15 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday announced a new government rule allowing businesses an alternative to providing workers with a company-administered health insurance plan.
The rule loosens regulations put in place by the Affordable Care Act to allow employers to offer Health Reimbursement Accounts instead of group health insurance plans.
HRAs are tax-free accounts that employers pay into and employees use for qualified medical expenses. Under the new rule, employees can now use that money to purchase an individual health plan.
“HRAs will now receive the same tax treatment that other employer-provided health plans have always enjoyed,” Trump said from the White House’s Rose Garden.
The new rule goes into effect January 2020.
Trump said he’ll have more healthcare-related announcements in the coming weeks.
