Durbin, Lincoln Introduce Affordable Insurance Plan for Small Businesses
DURBIN, LINCOLN, INTRODUCE AFFORDABLE INSURANCE PLAN FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Senators Urge President Bush to Support Small Employers Health Benefits Program Will Offer More Choice, Lower Costs
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) today introduced legislation to give small businesses affordable choices among private health insurance plans and expand access to health care coverage for their employees.
The Small Employers Health Benefits Program (SEHBP) would allow small businesses across America to band together for lower health care prices by pooling their purchasing power and spreading their risk over a large number of participants. Employers would qualify for an annual tax credit to partially offset contributions on behalf of employees
The SEHBP is modeled after the highly successful Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which has offered members of Congress and government workers a wide range of private health insurance choices for more than 40 years. SEHBP would give employees of small businesses access to a comparable range of private health plans.
"Across Illinois, small business owners tell me time and time again that their biggest concern is the high cost of health insurance," Durbin said. "At a time when more than 45 million Americans do not have health insurance and small businesses struggle to keep up with annual double-digit premium increases, our bill will put affordable options on the table for businesses that currently can't afford to offer this important benefit to their workers."
"The crisis of ever escalating health care costs is not going away, and in fact, it's getting worse," Lincoln said. "I've heard from countless small business owners in Arkansas who have been forced to drop or dramatically reduce health insurance for their employees, even though they desperately want to offer it. Our small employers know that offering health insurance helps them with recruitment, retention, employee performance, and the overall success of the business. This is something I firmly believe Congress should address right now. My bill would help our small businesses, the true backbone of our communities, and it would allow us to begin to address the very real needs of the working uninsured."
The Senators also sent a letter to President Bush, urging him to support SEHBP instead of making Association Health Plans (AHPs) exempt from insurance regulations as a way to bring down premiums for small businesses. The House Ways and Means Committee considered AHP legislation today.
"It is an experiment that has been tired - and failed," wrote the Senators. "In the 1970s, massive fraud and abuse resulted from these health plans that left patients, doctors and hospitals with more than $123 million in unpaid medical bills. The AHP legislation being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee does not contain adequate safeguards to protect families from this happening again."
"We urge you to take a look at SEHBP - an approach that would provide millions of Americans with private health insurance at a lower cost, available nationwide, with consumer protections and low administrative costs," wrote the Senators. "We feel that this plan has the ability to attract broad support in Congress and we ask for your leadership to help us pass the SEHBP Act this year."
Cosponsors of the Durbin-Lincoln bill are Senators Tom Carper (D-DE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). March 16, 2005 Mr. President:
While we debate the future of Social Security, millions of Americans face the immediate and real problem of rising health insurance premiums. More than 45 million Americans have no health insurance at all while millions of businesses struggle to keep up with annual double-digit premium increases.
Small businesses have a particular problem with insurance premiums as they do not have the purchasing power or risk distribution of large companies. You have often spoken about the need to allow small businesses to pool together. We agree and we ask that you consider our approach, which is outlined in legislation we are introducing in the Senate today.
The Small Employers Health Benefit Program (SEHBP) will enable the self-employed and small businesses with up to 100 employees to pool their risk and purchasing power, expanding their access to affordable private health insurance options for their employees.
Based on the successful Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the SEHBP program would offer small businesses a range of benefit packages from licensed insurers. The program would be managed by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which has 40 years of experience negotiating with insurers. The plan would offer tax credits to small businesses to help them pay for benefits for low-income workers.
We understand you are looking toward making Association Health Plans (AHPs) exempt from insurance regulation as a way to bring down insurance premiums for small businesses. We have great concerns about exempting groups offering insurance from state health insurance regulations. It is an experiment that has already been tried - and failed. In the 1970s, massive fraud and abuse resulted from these health plans that left patients, doctors and hospitals with more than $123 million in unpaid medical bills. The AHP legislation being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee today does not contain adequate safeguards to protect families from this happening again.
We urge you to take a look at SEHBP - an approach that would provide millions of Americans with private heath insurance at a lower cost, available nationwide, with consumer protections and low administrative costs. We feel that this plan has the ability to attract broad support in Congress, and we ask for your leadership to help us pass the SEHBP Act this year.
Sincerely,
Dick Durbin
Blanche Lincoln
Tom Carper
Bill Nelson
Mary Landrieu
Jon Corzine
Frank Lautenberg
Mark Pryor
Maria Cantwell
http://durbin.senate.gov/releases.cfm