Pending health care legislation was on the forefront of everyone's minds at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' recent legislative conference. The event was held in Washington, D.C. and attracted employers of all sizes to discuss everything from the upcoming election to the war in Iraq.

Karen Ignani, chief executive officer of America's Health Insurance Plans, provided audience members with an overview of 2009 policy conundrums that may affect employers.

Many measures are still in the planning stages, while others have reached the House and Senate floors. Here's what employers should be aware of as we head into 2009 and beyond.

General health issues

►H.R. 493: The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008

• The law, which was recently signed by President Bush, prohibits health plans from adjusting premiums on the basis of predictive genetic information and establishes new confidentiality protections for genetic information.
• The measure does, however, maintain plans' ability to use genetic information in the aggregate for the purposes of disease management and prevention.
• t also prohibits employers and labor organizations from discriminating against employees on the basis of genetic information.

►S.334: Healthy Americans Act

• The Healthy Americans Act would eliminate employer-sponsored health insurance to guarantee universal health care coverage that is transportable, private and equal to the insurance that federal employees have today. It maintains a focus on prevention, wellness and disease management and encourages transparency across all health care offerings.
• The bill was introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Or.) in January 2007 and is continuing to gain bipartisan momentum in the Senate.

Health technology

►S.1693: Wired for Health Care Quality Act

• Establishes a public-private partnership that would set guidelines for electronic health information exchanges.

►H.R.5442: TRUST in Health Information Act

• Creates a competitive grant program to encourage the implementation and use of health IT systems with a single organization to develop and enforce quality and performance measures.

Quality and price transparency

Over two dozen states currently mandate that health care providers give report cards or other quality measures on their servicing organizations.