PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 13, 2013
Church Health Plan Act of 2013 - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to include qualified church plans, established and maintained for employees or their beneficiaries, by a church or by a convention or association of churches, as qualified health plans that provide essential health benefits packages.
Excludes such plans from participation in American Health Benefits Exchanges established by states.
Allows such plans to: (1) differentiate premiums using methods and criteria consistent with those used to assess charges and payments to other qualified health plans based on PPACA risk adjustment requirements and regulations concerning rates and payments, and (2) develop additional methods and criteria to define and account for the actuarial risk associated with the prohibition against qualified church plans enrolling a larger number and more diverse pool of enrollees as long as such additional methods and criteria are consistent with the risk adjustment methods.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Provides standards for deeming an employer participating in such a plan as an eligible small employer for purposes of the income tax credit for employee health insurance expenses.
Deems an individual receiving minimum essential coverage under such a plan to: (1) satisfy the individual responsibility requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, and (2) qualify for premium tax credits and reductions in cost-sharing if the household income requirements are met.
People & committees
Sen. Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR] · D–AR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 12, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1164 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1164 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1164 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1164 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.