In the early hours of July 28, Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) ended when the Senate fell short of the 51 votes required to pass the Health Care Freedom Act (HCFA). Called the “skinny repeal bill,” it would have eliminated the individual mandate penalty and temporarily repealed the employer mandate penalty and medical device tax along with providing states flexibility on certain ACA requirements. Earlier in the week, separate votes on the Better Care Reconciliation Act (the Senate’s alternative to the American Health Care Act) and the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act (the “repeal and delay” option) also failed. Both parties have indicated next steps may include bipartisan efforts to fix the ACA and stabilize the market. Specific plans and a timeline have not been discussed yet.

Republican leadership in Congress or the Administration may also pursue other ways to dismantle, replace or reform the ACA including regulatory action, regulatory non-enforcement or other options, as outlined in our March 30 Update.
ACA Remains the Law of the Land

The ACA remains the law of the land. Ongoing compliance with the law is required unless and until official guidance to the contrary is issued. We encourage employers and broker partners to use Your ACA Roadmap to receive a personalized snapshot of annual responsibilities. Visit www.YourACARoadmap.com for more information.

To stay up to date on the evolving state of health care reform, we encourage you to bookmark www.InformedonReform.com, including the Repeal and Replace Update webpage, where we continuously update information as it becomes available.

Brought to you by Cigna Health Care Reform Consulting and Communications

As a result of the prolonged Federal Reserve’s involvement in stimulating the economy, interest rates are and have been at extreme lows. Over the course of the next five to ten years, the Fed is expected to pull back its control in a way which will allow rates to increase, having an inevitable effect on the markets as a whole.  As a result, portfolios heavy in bonds may experience poor performance in the market during periods of rising interest rates. When rates in the open market are offering higher credited rates to lenders, investors tend to sell their existing debt, resulting in falling prices. Longer term debt is particularly more sensitive to interest rate risk, and this, as well as debt quality, will all want to be considerations when discussing with clients and/or prospective clients

Likewise, rising rates can have a negative effect on the Consumer Cyclical sector, as the fact that the general public will tend to have less discretionary spending money due to more expensive borrowing and potential price hikes. However, investing in bank equities can be attractive in anticipation of these times, as they are able to finance out at more profitable margins.