The U.S. Senate voted 87-12 today to repeal part of last year's health care law that expanded IRS Form 1099 reporting requirements for small businesses. The House previously passed the bill. It now goes to President Obama, who is expected to sign it.
NAIFA President Terry K. Headley issued the following statement on the Senate’s vote:
“NAIFA is happy with today’s Senate vote and commends the bipartisan effort in Congress to repeal the 1099 provision. It demonstrates that members from both sides of the aisle are able to come together to fix the parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that would hurt consumers and small business.
“Many NAIFA members are small business owners providing consumers with much needed insurance and financial services in communities across America. The 1099 reporting rules would have required them to expend scarce time and resources on recordkeeping and paperwork rather than serving the needs of their middle-income clients.
“Next, we would encourage Congress to consider the Rogers/Barrow legislation (HR 1206) that would remove agent commissions from the medical loss ratio calculation. The MLR provision is another part of health reform that needs to be revisited in order to preserve consumer service. Many agents have seen commissions slashed by 50% or more, and they have had to curtail the customer services their individual and small-group clients have come to expect.”