Legislation to create more affordable health insurance options for small business is currently under debate in the U.S. Senate. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is moving quickly to a vote on S. 1955 (“The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act”) that will allow small business associations to pool their members and offer group health insurance, called Small Business Health Plans, to working families. The mark up of the bill will be continued this Wednesday March 15 th at 9 am. This is the first time such legislation has managed this far in the Senate.
Expectedly, the legislation will ease some of the health insurance cost pressures faced by small employers. A study says:
- S. 1955 would reduce health insurance costs for small business by 12 percent. In today’s dollars – about $1,000 per employee;
- S. 1955 would reduce the number of uninsured in working families by 8 percent or approximately 1 million people.
The National Grange policy says:
“The National Grange supports legislation that would allow professional associations to offer members group health insurance on a national basis thus making it more affordable.”
Action Needed:
Please write an email to your two U.S. Senators to urge them to pass S. 1955 as soon as possible. Please feel free to cut and paste the following sample letter. If you don’t know your Senators email addresses please click here to find them.
Sample Letter:
| I am writing to urge you to support passage of the Small Business Health Plan legislation (S. 1955). A growing number of Americans do not have insurance coverage for prescription medicines and other health care services with 45 million Americans uninsured in 2003. Many of the newly uninsured are small business employees whose employers cannot afford to offer health plans to their workers. S. 1955 will allow small business associations to offer a uniform health care plan and use their collective bargaining power to lower the cost of health insurance for their members.
Please enact S. 1955 and provide working families relief from rising health insurance costs.
Sincerely,
(Signature)
(Name)__________________________
(Grange name and number) __________________________
|
If you have any questions or comments please contact Legislative Research Analyst Chil-Sook Hwang by e-mail: chwang@nationalgrange.org by fax: 202-347-1091 or by phone: 1-888-4GRANGE, ext 109.
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