03/13/2007
HB 2757 would help put medical coverage in hands of thousands of uninsured. Bill heads to Senate
PHOENIX, Ariz. -- With this afternoon's 32-25 passage of House Bill 2757, Arizona is once again showing the way forward in finding solutions to the health-care crisis in America, according to the representative group for the small-business owners at the center of the problem.
"The small-business owners of the state applaud today's vote in the Arizona House," said Michelle Bolton, Arizona state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, America's top small-business organization. "The passage of House Bill 2757 successfully passes the torch lit last year leading the way out of our nation's biggest domestic problem."
Last year, the Legislature passed and Gov. Janet Napolitano signed House Bill 2698, allowing health insurance carriers to offer a more flexible medical plans to uninsured small businesses with between two and 25 employees. House Bill 2757, sponsored by small-business owning State Rep. Kirk Adams, extends this opportunity to individuals and small employers with up to 50 employees.
"Surveys of the uninsured consistently show that the cost of health insurance is the primary reason for their being uninsured," according to a Council for Affordable Health Insurance report, "State Health Insurance Index 2006: A 50-State Comparison of the Nation's Health Insurance Market" report. "The general public and the media are largely unaware that state legislatures have a significant impact on the cost of health insurance premiums in the small group (i.e. 2-50 employees) and individual (i.e., individuals buy their own policies) health insurance markets. Because regulations vary from state to state, the cost of health insurance premiums can differ widely on the state where one lives."
At the heart of those regulations are mandates, legal requirements put on health insurers by states to cover this procedure or that. Mandates are what drive up health-care costs, and with each increase comes a new wave of medically uninsured. Bolton added that neither HB 2698 nor HB 2757 prohibits or prevents small-business employers and individuals from purchasing insurance with more options, rather it finally provides more choice.
"Small-business owners desperately want to provide health care for their employees, which is why they have listed it as their No. 1 problem for the past 20 years in surveys conducted by NFIB," said Bolton. "In fact, for each of those years, the margin over the No. 2 worry (the NFIB Problems and Priorities report lists 75) widens farther and farther. I am proud that the lawmakers in our state are not sitting idly by waiting for Congress to do something, but instead are building a lighthouse for the nation on this issue. I encourage the state Senate and governor to add to the construction by making HB 2757 law."
