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Letter to the Editor

ASA Joins Coalition Supporting Health Plan Legislation

The U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee recently held a hearing on health care coverage for small businesses.

Testifying at the hearing was Rep. Ernie Fletcher, R-Ky., who introduced House Bill 660. This bill will allow associations to provide health care for their members by purchasing health insurance as a group to receive a reduced rate.

Fletcher said, "Experts estimate that up to 8.5 million uninsured small business workers could gain coverage if Association Health Plans (AHP) legislation is enacted." The Automotive Service Association (ASA) supports this legislation.

ASA President Ron Pyle said, "Association health insurance legislation is truly needed by small businesses so they can affordably provide quality health coverage to their employees and families."

Committee Chairman, Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., a co-sponsor of the legislation, presided over the hearing. He said, "Improving access and affordability to heath care is one of my priorities for this committee. Year after year, small business owners rate access and affordability of health care as the most important issue facing them.

"Of the 43 million Americans with no health insurance, 60 percent are small entrepreneurs, their families and their employees," Manzullo said.

The Small Business Health Fairness Act will:

• Decrease the number of uninsured Americans,
• Reduce health insurance costs by 15-30 percent,
• Provide new coverage options for those who are self-employed,
• Put forth tough new solvency standards to protect patients' rights, and
• Promote greater competition and choice in health insurance markets.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Small Business Committee; Jim Talent, R-Mo.; and Christopher Bond, R-Mo., introduced the companion Senate Bill 545, the "Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2003."

"The bill I am introducing will provide revolutionary changes to the health insurance choices available for small businesses," Snowe said. "It is a starting point in solving the health care crisis facing our nation's employed, but uninsured. The number one issue affecting small businesses is lack of health care."

Importantly, Secretary of the Department of Labor Elaine Chao and Small Business Administrator Hector Barretto stood with the senators introducing this legislation in support of association health plans.

"ASA has formally joined the AHP Now! Coalition, which is comprised of small business organizations working together to see this legislation enacted," Pyle said. "We encourage our members to write their U.S. senators and representatives and ask them to co-sponsor these bills."

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