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As Chair of the Senate
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I
believe that the foremost concern of small
businesses today is escalating health care costs.
Small businesses face a crisis when it comes to
securing affordable, quality health insurance. They
are trapped in stagnant, dysfunctional insurance
markets that are controlled by a handful of large
insurers, leaving few, if any, coverage options. Our
country is home to the most sophisticated medical
and pharmaceutical technologies in the world, and
yet health insurance is out of reach for many small
businesses, which prevents millions of Americans
from obtaining the medical care they need.
The Kaiser Family
Foundation has recently found that only 47 percent
of the smallest companies – 3 to 9 workers – offer
health benefits, as compared to over 90 percent of
firms with 50 workers or more. The percentage of
all small businesses that offer health insurance
benefits has steadily declined – from 68 percent in
2000 to 59 percent in 2004.
Late last year, I
requested that the Government Accountability Office
(GAO) examine the markets through which small
businesses can purchase health insurance. The GAO
reported that a handful of large carriers dominate
the small group insurance market, leaving small
businesses with few choices when it comes to
securing affordable, quality health insurance for
their employees. In Maine, five insurance companies
now control 98 percent of the state’s small group
market. The GAO’s report underscores the reality
that small businesses are trapped in insurance
markets that force many businesses not to offer
health insurance for their employees.
The American people have
consistently and overwhelmingly told Congress that
access to health insurance and the explosive growth
in premiums are a major concern. In the interest of
basic fairness, as well as the continued health of
small business employees and our economy, this dire
situation must be addressed. Of the nearly 46
million uninsured Americans, approximately 60
percent of the uninsured are either employed by a
small business or dependent on someone who is. If
we want to get serious about helping the uninsured,
which I think is long overdue, we should start by
focusing on small business.
I strongly believe that
Association Health Plans (AHPs) can play a crucial
role in solving this country’s health care crisis.
AHPs can bring necessary reform to insurance markets
that have long trapped small businesses and their
employees in a vicious cycle of escalating premium
costs and fewer coverage options. They represent a
fair, fiscally sound, and tested approach to
reducing the ranks of the uninsured in this country
at nominal cost to the federal government.
Last year, I
introduced the Small Business Health Fairness Act of
2005 (S. 406). My bill allows small businesses to
pool together to purchase affordable health
insurance through AHPs. Under my bill, small
businesses would be able to pool together nationally
through trade associations to either purchase their
health insurance from an insurance provider, or self
insure in the same way and with the same advantages
under federal law that larger employers and unions
currently enjoy.
My bill
mirrors the House version of AHP legislation, which
the House of Representatives passed for the eighth
time. Plain and simple, the Senate must take up –
and pass – AHP legislation to provide small
businesses with much-needed, long-awaited relief.
The skyrocketing costs of
health insurance are simply crushing small
businesses. The time has come for Congress to
recognize that small businesses in Maine and all
across the country are desperate for change. AHPs
represent an opportunity to drastically shrink the
ranks of America’s nearly 46 million uninsured,
without significantly expanding the health care
bureaucracy or increasing federal spending. I pledge
to continue to work with my Senate colleagues on
both sides of the political aisle to pass AHP
legislation and increase access to health insurance.
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