AFT Disappointed by Treasury Department’s Ruling on Health Coverage

AFT Disappointed by Treasury Department’s Ruling on Health Coverage

AFT’s Weingarten says health exchanges “were intended to improve access to affordable health insurance. This ruling makes achieving that goal more difficult.

WASHINGTON—Statement of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on a U.S. Treasury Department ruling yesterday that leaves certain employees’ family members without health coverage:

“The AFT is very disappointed by the U. S. Treasury Department’s ruling that an employee’s family members are excluded from the health exchange subsidies if the employee has affordable individual coverage through his or her employer. 

“Exchanges, which will become operational by Jan. 1, 2014, were intended to improve access to affordable health insurance. This ruling makes achieving that goal more difficult. Too many people cannot afford to pay for the family health coverage offered by their employers.

“The AFT had urged federal regulators to consider the cost of family coverage when determining eligibility for exchange subsidies. Even though providing affordable health exchange coverage to families would now entail a significant and costly revision of the law, we are calling on Congress and the administration to correct this inequity that stands to leave too many Americans without healthcare coverage.”

Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten