03/15/2006
Small-Business Owners Hail First-Ever Senate Vote on Vital Legislation for Affordable Health Care
NFIB and its members won a huge victory today when the U.S. Senate's Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee voted 11-9 to send to the floor S. 1955, "The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2006."
"Today was a good day for small-business owners," said, Dan Danner, NFIB's executive vice president. "We thank Chairman Mike Enzi for his work and leadership, which has brought Small-Business Health Plans, NFIB's top legislative priority, a major step closer to reality. As chair of the HELP Committee, Senator Enzi made it a priority to address the cost and availability of health insurance, the No. 1 issue for America's small-business owners, and his bill, co-sponsored with Senator Ben Nelson, goes a long way to providing real relief for small businesses."
This legislation will allow for SBHPs, providing much-needed competition for the small-group market, and will bring more choices for NFIB members facing double-digit rate increases and struggling to afford health insurance for their employees. Over the past few weeks, nearly 2,000 letters have been sent to Senators on the HELP Committee by NFIB members and small-business owners in their states, urging them to support S. 1955.
NFIB has led the effort to create SBHPs, working legislatively for many years to pass the best possible legislation for its members. To that end, NFIB worked with pro-small-business lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass SBHPs, most recently last July. Educating the Senate has proved tougher, but the strong leadership of Sen. Enzi and Sen. Nelson, as well as Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Jim Talent, the first leaders of this vital effort in the upper chamber, has brought the legislation to a first Senate vote.
"Today, the HELP Committee took a significant step toward ending the health-insurance cost crisis facing the largest portion of America's uninsured population—the 27 million men, women and children covered by the small-business community. We won't let up now, but will intensify our efforts to urge the full Senate to pass SBHPs, a fair, common-sense and badly needed solution," Danner said.
