Support the Employee Health Care Protection Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, later today, the House will consider the Employee Health Care Protection Act, and I urge my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.

As I traveled West Virginia during the August recess, I heard from small business owners and workers across the State that their health insurance premiums are increasing. I also heard that their deductibles are increasing quite rapidly.

Given that the Obama administration's own Centers for Medicare & Medicaid studies found that 11 million small business employees will see their premiums increase due to ObamaCare, it was sad, but not surprising, that businesses in West Virginia and around the country are feeling the pinch of this law's misguided policies.

Yesterday a report issued by the American Action Forum found that the Affordable Care Act regulations are reducing small businesses' pay by $22.6 billion annually, and the rising premiums spurred by the law have cost our Nation's economy more than 350,000 jobs.

In my State of West Virginia, more than half of our private sector workers are employed by small businesses. Making sure that health insurance on the small group market is affordable is important to both the family budgets and to make sure those small businesses can continue to grow and provide jobs.

We saw last fall the tremendous problems and uncertainty that occurred when roughly 5 million Americans who purchased insurance on the individual market received cancelation notices, but recent testimony at the House Energy and Commerce Committee has indicated that millions more workers who have employer-sponsored plans could get similar notices starting as early as this year.

If a worker is forced to change health insurance policies, their new plan might not include their doctor or their community hospital. This is another example of overreaching government that is taking away the freedom of individuals and businesses to make the health care decisions that best fit their unique circumstances.

The bill the House will consider today is very simple. If a plan was offered on the group health insurance market in 2013, that plan can continue to be offered for the next 5 years. Any worker covered by one of these plans will not be fined under the individual mandate. The Employer Health Care Protection Act keeps the President's promise that people who like their insurance, health insurance, can keep it.

It also provides more affordable alternatives for small businesses whose health care costs are soaring. This bill is a commonsense step forward.

There is still much more work that needs to be done. We need to go back to the drawing board and enact true health care reform. We should build on the good ideas, like helping those with preexisting conditions and allowing children to remain on parents' benefits until the age of 26. These are good things.

We should get rid of bad ideas like the job-killing employer mandate, the individual mandate, and regulations that have cost many Americans the insurance plan and the doctor that they choose. We should enact meaningful medical liability reform, we should help spur association health plans, and allow insurance to be sold across State lines to broaden competition in the individual insurance market.

We need to come together to fix our broken health care system. But today, the least we can do is keep the promise that the President made to the American people and allow current plans to continue to be available. I ask my colleagues to support the Employee Health Care Protection Act.

Source