NFIB Illinois State Director Noah Finley testified against SB 2762 (Morrison) in the Senate Insurance Committee.

The legislation would impose new mandates on small group health insurance plans—which are utilized by small businesses—while specifically exempting plans for state employees due to concerns that the state could not afford the higher costs.

Finley noted that someone will have to pay for new coverage mandates and, “in this case, it’s the small business through higher premiums.”

He noted that NFIB believes that if a “coverage mandate is too expensive for the state, it’s definitely too expensive for small businesses.”

The legislation received a favorable report from the Senate Insurance Committee and will go to the Senate Floor for consideration by the entire Senate.

For small businesses, the price of health insurance is already a significant issue. Rising prices are limiting access to small group health-insurance plans for small businesses. A recent NFIB report indicated that 98% of small business owners are concerned about health-insurance affordability. The small group market that small businesses have access to has undergone a rapid decline, dropping from almost 15 million participants in 2014 to 8.5 million at the end of 2023.

For more information, read NFIB’s health care policy paper, “Addressing the Health Insurance Affordability Crisis for Small Businesses.”

CLICK HERE to tell lawmakers to stop rising health insurance costs for small business!