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On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to pass the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, a suite of policies that are an important first step to lower the cost of health care, sponsored by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA). 

• The NAM sent a letter expressing support for the bill to House leadership on Monday.  

Why it matters: According to the NAM’s recently released  Q4 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey, the rising cost of health care is the second-biggest concern for manufacturers. Among small and medium-sized manufacturers, health care is the top concern. 

• Health care has been among the top three concerns for manufacturers throughout 2025 and for most of 2024.
• However, manufacturers remain staunchly committed to providing health care benefits, with 95% of manufacturing workers remaining eligible, as detailed in the NAM’s 2023 report titled “Manufacturers on the Front Lines of Communities: A Deep Commitment to Health Care.” 

What’s in the bill: The bill will address systemic issues that raise the cost of health care for employers and workers by: 

• Expanding access to association health plans, which allow smaller employers to pool resources to buy health insurance in large groups. These plans offer lower premiums and expanded provider networks.
• Expanding access to stop-loss insurance policies, which protect businesses when employee health care costs exceed a predetermined threshold. This is important particularly for companies that self-fund their health insurance. 
• Codifying and enhancing the flexibility of individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, which allow employers to contribute a set amount and workers to use pre-tax dollars to purchase individual health insurance on the open market. The bill offers small tax benefits for employers that switch to offering coverage this way. 
• Instituting long-overdue transparency measures for pharmacy benefit managers in the commercial market, which will shed light on PBMs’ opaque business practices and help plan sponsors make more informed coverage decisions. 

What’s next: The NAM called on the Senate to take up the bill and include “further reforms and additional transparency requirements for PBMs, reform of the 340B program, expanded access to health savings accounts and more.”