Affordable quality health care
needed
In response to the pervasive issue
of increasing health care costs, Secretary Elaine L. Chao unveiled a Department
of Labor report on September 13th showing how Association Health Plans (AHPs)
would improve access to affordable quality health care for small
businesses.
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"Six of every ten Americans with health
insurance are in families headed by someone working in a small business," said
Secretary Chao.
That's why the Bush Administration has made affordable and
accessible health insurance for small businesses a priority, and bipartisan
legislation establishing AHPs is currently pending in Congress. This
legislation would prove especially beneficial for the 9.1 million women-owned
businesses in the United States that provide 27.6 million jobs, and contribute
more than $3.6 trillion to the economy.
A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation pointed to the dramatic
decline in health care coverage among small businesses, which showed only 45%
of small firms offering coverage. That study attributed the decreased instances
of coverage among small businesses of four to nine employees to surging health
premiums and the economy.
AHPs would allow small businesses to join together through an
association to increase their purchasing power and access more affordable
health care coverage. AHPs would achieve savings averaging from nine percent to
25 percent of the cost of small business health insurance premiums.
In
addition to bargaining power, AHPs would offer administrative efficiencies,
flexible benefit design, and advantages of risk pooling through their
associations or business organizations that currently are available only to
large employers and union-sponsored plans.
The report, Association Health Plans:
Improving Access to Affordable Quality Health Care for Small Businesses, is
available on the Internet or by calling 1-866-275-7922.
Reforms to accessible quality health care, including AHPs, continue to
be an issue discussed by women business owners at events like the Women
Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century Conference and similar conferences,
co-sponsored by the Department of Labor and the Small Business
Administration.
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For More Information About WB, Contact:
U.S.
Department of Labor
Women's Bureau
200 Constitution Avenue, NW - Room
S-3002
Washington, DC 20210
Telephone 1-800-827-5335 or (202)
693-6710
Fax (202) 693-6725
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