Medical Care Access Protection Act of 2006--Motion to Proceed
MEDICAL CARE ACCESS PROTECTION ACT OF 2006--MOTION TO PROCEED
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Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, first, I thank Senator Enzi from Wyoming and his staff and my staff for the effort they have put into S. 1955. I was pleased to work with them in trying to help our Nation's small businesses and our Nation's uninsured.
Mr. President, 45 million people don't have health insurance in our country today. We have heard that statistic so many times that it is starting to feel numb to us, but we can't let that happen. Forty-five million people translates to about one of every six Americans. I would like to put a face to that figure and start bringing some feeling back to the state of health insurance coverage in the United States.
If the 45 million uninsured Americans held hands and formed a chain between New York City and Los Angeles, they would not only stretch the entire distance, they would be able to go back and forth from coast to coast 14 times.
We can no longer wait to help this ever-growing number of people gain health insurance. It is time to start increasing the number of insured people in our country, and this bill does just that.
It is projected that S. 1955 will make health insurance affordable for 1 million working Americans, and that is a sizable start to the process of providing health insurance to the one in six without it.
By allowing business and trade associations to band their members together and offer group health insurance coverage on a national or statewide basis, we will be making an important stride in making health insurance affordable for Americans.
Nearly every week since becoming a Senator, I have heard from small business owners in my State that can no longer afford health care for themselves or their employees.
Health care premiums are experiencing double-digit growth annually. Small businesses can't keep up with the costs. Since 2000, group premiums for family coverage have grown nearly 60 percent. So if we don't do something to help small businesses cope with the cost of health insurance, soon we will have an entire workforce without health insurance coverage.
This bill, the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005, is designed to lower health insurance costs by stimulating market reforms and promoting competition, while allowing trade associations the ability to offer group insurance plans for employees.
It is important to note that we keep oversight at the State level with the State insurance commissioners. For the past 10 years, the Senate has debated AHP legislation, and for 10 years nothing has happened to help our small businesses provide those health benefits. And small business health plans can work. It is time we looked at something that can and will work.
I believe in this legislation because it is the first health benefits legislation to get both sides--the business folks and the insurance folks--working together.
Senator Enzi and I know that concerns have been raised about this bill, and each time we have been approached by a group with a concern, we have listened and we have tried to work together to strengthen this bill and its hopes for making health insurance affordable for America's small businesses.
The traditional AHP bill gave a rating and mandate advantage to association plans that resulted in adverse selection and an unlevel playing field. The Enzi-Nelson bill eliminates the rating and mandate advantage that Federal AHPs would have had under previously proposed legislation, which went nowhere. As a former insurance commissioner myself, it was crucial to me that this bill adhere to strict insurance principles. I think the bill before us will do just that.
As I see it, we have three options. The first is to do nothing to help the 45 million uninsured Americans. Since I genuinely believe we all want to improve health care, I will move on to the next option.
The second option is to keep trying to pass AHP legislation year after year, but I am afraid this approach will result in about the same dismal outcome as the do-nothing option that no one wants.
The third option, which I think is the best solution, is to act on small business health plans and pass this legislation.
In Nebraska, there are at least 30,000 small businesses with fewer than 50 employees who would be directly impacted by this legislation. Currently, 20,000 of these businesses don't offer health benefits.
I read a report last month by respected actuaries who looked at our bill. They believe it will help small businesses reduce health insurance costs by $1,000 per employee and shrink the number of uninsured working families by 8 percent. That is 1 million Americans who will now be able to afford health insurance because of the bill.
Recent survey results conducted by a bipartisan research firm shows that S. 1955 enjoys the support of 89 percent of Americans. It is a rare day in the United States anymore when 9 out of 10 people are united behind a cause.
So I hope this unity carries over to the Senate floor and that colleagues will join with Senator Enzi, myself, and others and pass S. 1955. It is in the best interest of Americans who want health insurance.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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