Contacts Needed NOW to all Senators Opposing the Small Business Health Fairness Act (S.545)
February 19, 2004
The Issue at Hand
President Bush is putting strong pressure on the Senate to pass the Small Business Health Fairness Act, S.545 this year as a part of his health care agenda. The House version (H.R.660) passed last year, largely along a party-line vote. NASW and our coalition partners are concerned that the Senate bill could pass under this election-year pressure.
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, eviscerate behavioral health and other mandatory benefits, eliminate consumer protections, and increase health insurance costs for employee groups left out of the new plans.
ACTION NEEDED
All members of the Senate must be contacted to hear opposition to S.545. If you have not already done so, 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 — that can be e-mailed or faxed to members of Congress — has been posted on NASW's Congress Web. A sample phone message also follows.
All Senators can be reached through the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121; you may also use this line 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. This Act 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 soon, since S.545 may receive committee consideration next month. In addition to the White House, the bill has strong support from small business advocates, and senators are receiving many messages in support of the bill; these messages 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 (NAAG) 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. NAAG states, "Elimination of the state role and replacement with weak federal oversight is a bad deal for small businesses and for consumers."
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. |
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