News Release
« BackSmall Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare Outlines Reform Priorities
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
NTMA and PMA continue to work with industry partners such as the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare. Along with the coalition, One Voice encourages the House and Senate to develop responsible solutions to constrain health care costs and improve access to good-quality, affordable health care.
During the past several months, the coalition expressed opposition to the House-passed “Affordable Health Care for America Act” (H.R. 3962) and the Senate-passed “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (H.R. 3590). Moving forward, small business groups urge Congress to include the following items in health care reform legislation:
• Opportunities for small businesses to pool together and purchase insurance across state lines
• Balanced and responsible insurance market reforms
• Streamlined benefit packages
• Much-needed choices like SIMPLE cafeteria plans
• Tax equity for the nation’s self-employed
• Meaningful liability reform
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the coalition explains that these types of provisions open the door to many potential benefits for small business. However, if the price for these benefits increases the cost of doing business, small businesses will not support the overall legislation. The letter also states that small business owners remain deeply concerned that the costs associated with any new taxes, mandates and government programs used to finance health care reform would erase any savings that could have been realized from the reforms outlined above.
The coalition also lists items that should not be included in health care legislation, including:
• New taxes on small business health insurance
• An employer mandate that encourages job cuts, not job creation, including mandates targeted at specific industries
• Union and big business carve-outs
• Increases in Medicare payroll taxes
• New paperwork burdens and costs for small businesses
• New taxes specifically targeted at the small business community
• Prohibitions on HSAs, FSAs and HRAs that limit employer and employee flexibility and choice
For more information about the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare, visit the coalition website.
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