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Employer-sponsored health insurance “is the bedrock of the United States’ health care system,” and manufacturers are committed to continuing to provide it—but there are actions Congress can take now to make doing so easier, the NAM told the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions yesterday. 
 
What’s going on: Manufacturers say employer-sponsored health insurance, or ESI, helps them attract and retain a quality workforce, and what’s more, “they believe it is the right thing to do for their workers,” NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain said ahead of a Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee hearing on expanding access to and affordability of ESI.  

• But while manufacturers intend to keep offering ESI—indeed, some 93% of manufacturing workers are eligible for health benefits, according to the NAM—58% of respondents to the NAM’s latest Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey cited health care costs as a top business concern in the first quarter of 2025.  

What should be done: To increase access to and affordability of ESI, Congress should do the following:

• Strengthen ERISA: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 “underpins manufacturers’ ability to provide health insurance to their employees,” Crain said. But “the complexities and bureaucracy of the health care system are major challenges for manufacturers. These challenges can be addressed through improvements to the current public–private health care system.” 
• Protect ERISA’s federal preemption: ERISA’s federal preemption of state and local laws allows multistate employers to administer benefits for all their employees and must be maintained. 
• Improve data transparency and accessibility: Employer plan sponsors need to have user-friendly access to their complete data to make informed choices about their plan’s operations. Additionally, transparency improves manufacturing employees’ experience with the health care system.
• Preserve the ESI tax deduction: Congress should maintain the existing ESI tax exclusion.
• Reform PBMs: Legislators should reform pharmacy benefit managers, underregulated middlemen that drive up health care costs.