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May 13, 2004—Today U.S. Representative Trent Franks voted to assist America’s small businesses in providing health insurance to millions of uninsured workers. The successful Small Business Health Fairness Act (H.R. 4281) creates Association Health Plans (AHPs) to give small businesses and uninsured working families the opportunity to access the type of quality health insurance benefits that large corporations and unions already enjoy.
“As a business owner, I have seen first-hand the potential difficulties in providing health coverage to employees,” Franks said. “When carriers drop out of an area, options are eliminated and premiums increase. I am unequivocally convinced that AHPs will allow small businesses to provide better health care for their employees and their families through increased purchasing power and broader choices in coverage.”
More than 60 percent of the uninsured are employed by a small business. On average, a worker in a firm with less than 10 employees pays 18 percent more for health insurance than a worker in a firm with 200 or more employees.
The Small Business Health Fairness Act includes provisions that create new groups (AHPs) for small firms to join, so that employers can band together to offer health coverage to employees. These groups would then have bargaining power that larger employers have in negotiating contracts with insurers. In addition, some of those insurers may be able to offer reduced priced plans, thereby enabling more employers to afford to offer increased health care options to their employees.
“Today’s legislation, based on increased access through greater competition, will make health plans more responsive to the demands of their customers, improve service, expand benefit options, and ultimately increase the numbers of small employers who provide coverage. ” |
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