Contacts Needed NOW to all
Senators Opposing the Small Business Health Fairness Act
(S.545) August 15, 2003 THE ISSUE AT HAND The full Senate
may consider the Small Business Health Fairness Act, S.545
when it returns from its August recess in September. The
House version (H.R.660) passed earlier this summer, largely
along a party-line vote. NASW and our coalition partners
are concerned the Senate bill could appear suddenly on the
Senate floor for consideration. S.545 aims to provide small
businesses, including associations, with lower cost and bare
bones health insurance for their employee groups through
association health plans (AHPs). NASW is highly supportive
of increasing access to health care coverage for working
people, but we oppose S.545, because it would exempt AHPs
from state laws and regulations, eviscerating existing consumer
protections, and increasing health insurance costs for those
employee groups left out of the new plans. ACTION NEEDED All members of the
Senate must be contacted immediately to hear opposition to
S.545. Please call, fax, or e-mail your U.S. Senator and
ask him or her to oppose the Small Business Health Fairness
Act, S.545. A sample letter opposing the bill has been posted
on NASW's Congress Web to e-mail or fax to Members of Congress.
A sample phone message also follows. All Senators can be
reached through the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121 to
obtain their individual fax numbers. E-mail addresses are
available through NASW's Congress Web: www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/grassroots/congressweb.asp If
you make a phone call, please let us know via e-mail at advocacy@naswdc.org Sample Phone Message My
name is _________ from ________ (city, state). As a constituent,
professional
social worker, and member of the National Association of
Social Workers, I am calling to ask Senator _________ (last
name) to oppose the Small Business Health Fairness Act, S.545,
which would exempt association health plans from state laws
and regulations, thereby eviscerating existing consumer protections
and coverage requirements and increasing insurance premiums
for those left behind. I would appreciate the Senator’s strong
opposition to this bill. Thank you. TIMING It is critical for
opposition to be heard by early September, since S.545 may
receive rapid floor consideration next month. The bill has
strong support from small business advocates and Senators
are now receiving many communications in support of the bill,
which must be offset. BACKGROUND AHPs
offer small businesses the opportunity to join together
through trade
and professional associations to collectively purchase health
benefits at lower rates than they are typically offered individually.
Current law requires AHPs to be regulated under both federal
and state law. The Small Business Fairness Act would exempt
AHPs from state laws, consumer protections, mandated benefit
laws, and other safeguards thus, significantly increasing
the risk for fraud and abuse. Recently, failures of association-type
health plans have left more than 100,000 participants nationwide
with over $30 million in unpaid medical bills. The
National Association of Attorneys General warns that a mid-1970s
experiment with a similar type of plan left at least 398,000
consumers stuck with a total of more than $123 million in
unpaid claims. "Elimination of the state role and replacement
with weak federal oversight is a bad deal for small businesses
and for consumers," they warn. The National Governors'
Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures,
many large health insurers, the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners, and NASW have strongly opposed AHPs before
Congress. Our reasoning is that, although AHPs could reduce
insurance costs for some companies with young, healthy workers,
many small businesses with older and higher risk employees
would be left behind in the regular insurance market, facing
significantly higher rates. The Congressional Budget Office
estimates that AHPs would result in higher premiums for 80
percent of small businesses and their workers, ultimately
resulting in more uninsured Americans. TAKE ACTION
NOW! THANKS FOR YOUR
ADVOCACY |
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