Healthcare regulations are rapidly evolving, impacting employer-sponsored health plans and employee benefits. This session will cover the renewed focus and updates to the Affordable Care Act and state laws, including access to maternal health and family planning services, and mental health. Gain insights into how these changes affect your organization and strategies to ensure compliance and optimal benefits management.
Learning Outcomes:
Understand the current trends in employer-sponsored health care and benefit plans.
Explore recent and potential changes in federal and state healthcare law and their implications.
Learn best practices to position your healthcare benefits to meet your organizations needs in this evolving environment.
Develop strategies to support employee health and wellbeing in this dynamic legal landscape.
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Scott Woods
Vice President of Policy & Research
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
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Scott Woods is a Vice President of Policy & Research at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), where he manages a broad portfolio that focuses on improving patient access and affordability for medicines across public programs and the commercial market, driving down costs in the supply chain, and health equity issues. He is the founding executive sponsor of the PRIDE Umbrella, PhRMA’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group.
Prior to joining PhRMA in 2020, Scott was an Assistant Vice President of State Affairs at the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), where provided strategic legislative and regulatory advocacy for PCMA and its member companies in states across the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southeast and before various state-based intergovernmental groups, including the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and various attorneys general organizations. Earlier in his career, he held policy positions at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Avalere Health.
Scott holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, a J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law, and is currently pursuing an M.S.Ed. in School and Mental Health Counseling at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. He and his husband, Ryan, live in Washington, D.C.
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Joel White
President
Council for Affordable Health Coverage
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Joel White is the President of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage (www.cahc.net), a role he has held since 2008.
Founded in 2001, CAHC is a non-profit advocacy alliance of the nation’s largest employers, drug manufacturers, health insurers, and patient organizations with a singular focus: bringing down the cost of health care so that every American has access to affordable health coverage. CAHC has helped advocate for more than a dozen laws since Joel took the helm.
Prior to CAHC, Joel spent twelve years on Capitol Hill as professional staff, most recently as Staff Director of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee where he helped enact nine laws, including the:
· 2002 Trade Act, which created health care tax credits
· 2003 law that established the Medicare prescription drug benefit and HSAs
· 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, and
· 2006 Tax Reform and Health Care Act, which reformed Medicare payment policies.
He is the co-author of the book, Facts and Figures on Government Finance (1992), which brings together data on public finance at all levels of government, with comparisons of taxing and spending levels spanning a half century. He holds a BS in Economics from the American University, and lives in Virginia with his wife and three sons.
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James Gelfand
President and CEO
The ERISA Industry Committee
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James Gelfand became president and CEO of The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) in April 2023, having previously served as its senior and then executive vice president for eight years. He was promoted to the position of president in June 2022. James oversees all aspects of the association’s activities, which focus on programs that shape federal and state health and retirement benefit policies, and that impact ERIC member companies’ ability to operate under federal ERISA protection from a patchwork of conflicting state and local laws. He has brought prominence to ERIC among federal and state lawmakers, thought leaders, and major companies in the U.S. and globally. James provides strategic leadership to ERIC’s legislative, regulatory and legal advocacy; membership and partnerships; and communications and operations, to achieve ERIC’s mission and implement the directives of ERIC’s Board of Directors. James first joined ERIC in 2005, when he was appointed a policy research associate, then health policy research manager for more than two years. He next led health policy efforts at the U.S Chamber of Commerce and served on Capitol Hill as counsel to Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) on the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee, and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) on the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee. James also served as an associate project director for Luntz Global Partners, where he helped spearhead the firm’s political practice during the 2014 election, and then led the federal affairs team at the March of Dimes Foundation, where he successfully advanced policies critical to the health of women and children. James has been recognized as a top industry lobbyist by both the National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics and The Hill. Since 2018 he has served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Arlington, VA-based Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance (MMHLA). MMHLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the mental health of mothers in the United States, with a focus on national policy and health equity. MMHLA is a staunch advocate for improved mental health care during pregnancy and postpartum. James earned his J.D. at George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC, and his undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Legal Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife and son.
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Steven Perrotta
Director of Public Policy
SHRM
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Steve Perrotta is the Director of Public Policy for SHRM. He directs the comprehensive strategy and initiatives to achieve SHRM’s public policy objectives at the Congressional and state level.
Previously he was the Retirement Policy Director for Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, Ranking Member of the Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. His responsibilities included the Committee’s jurisdiction over private sector ERISA retirement plans. He also covered workforce and labor matters. In addition to his HELP Committee responsibilities, Steve has covered tax matters, government affairs, telecommunications, and technology issues including the Senator’s Finance Committee and Aging Committee assignments. He coordinated the Senator’s activities with the Senate Nanotechnology Caucus and the Senate Philanthropy Caucus. He joined Senator Burr’s HELP Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging staff at the start of the 110th Congress in March 2007.
Prior to joining Senator Burr’s Committee staff, Steve was a Professional Staff Member with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce chaired by Representative John Boehner of Ohio. His responsibilities included pension reform and health care. Previously, he was the Senior Legislative Assistant and Military Legislative Assistant in the office of former Congressman Amo Houghton of New York State. Representative Houghton was a Marine veteran and former CEO of Corning, Inc. Rep. Houghton served on the Committee on Ways and Means and on the Committee on International Relations. Congressman Houghton established a bipartisan retreat for members of Congress and their families on the theory that civility and personal friendship would foster cooperation on Capitol Hill. Steve spent ten years working for Mr. Houghton – starting in the Corning, New York district office in 1995 as a military and veterans affairs caseworker. While in the District he also acted as the Congressman’s Military Service Academy selection committee coordinator. In 1999, he transferred to the Congressman’s Washington D.C. office to join his legislative staff. In addition to military affairs, his responsibilities included veterans, agriculture, labor, education, welfare, energy, transportation, judiciary, crime, immigration, gun control, campaign finance reform, mining, housing, banking, and financial services.
Prior to his Congressional career, Steve worked in the human resources office of Toshiba Westinghouse Electronics Corporation, an international joint venture between two of the world's leading electronics firms involved in the manufacture of television picture tubes.
Steve has a Bachelors of Science from Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations.