3.0.0 2948 2020-02-10T17:01:59Z 2020-02-10T17:01:59Z Senate S S 2008-04-30 110 sshr00 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2008-04-30T22:26:09Z 2008-04-30 sshr00 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. IntroReferral 2008-04-30 Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3599) IntroReferral B00100 9 Library of Congress 2008-04-30 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress B000944 Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH] Sherrod Brown D OH N Health Access to health care Administrative procedure Chronically ill Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues Commerce Department of Health and Human Services Discrimination in medical care Diseases Economics and Public Finance Employee health benefits Executive reorganization Federal employees Finance and Financial Sector Government Operations and Politics Government employees' health insurance Government publicity Government trust funds Health insurance Insurance companies Insurance premiums Labor and Employment Law Medically uninsured Presidential appointments Reinsurance Self-employed Small business Standards Health 00 2008-04-30 Introduced in Senate 2008-07-29T21:33:36Z Small Business Empowerment Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a national program to make quality, affordable health insurance available to small employers and self-employed individuals in a manner that will spread risk on a national basis, modeled on the federal employees health benefit program.

Requires the Secretary to enter into a contract with an eligible entity for administration of the program. Authorizes such administrator to provide health insurance coverage to employees of participating employers and individuals. Directs such administrator to: (1) establish a pilot program to provide for the offering by carriers of a model health benefits plan; and (2) contract with the Institute of Medicine to assess the impact of the program on health care coverage costs and access.

Sets minimum standards for program health benefits plans. Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations providing for employer participation.

Establishes the National Health Coverage Commission. Includes among Commission duties: (1) developing a model that ensures adequate coverage for medically necessary services, promotes disease and chronic disease management, and provides incentives for health provider compliance with best practices protocols; and (2) developing model cost sharing mechanisms that do not discriminate and that accommodate lower income individuals.

Directs the Secretary and the program administrator to implement an educational campaign concerning the program.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish a program to provide reinsurance to qualified carriers offering plans under this Act; (2) make specified large claim payments (from the Small Business Health Coverage Trust Fund established by this Act) and annual payments to such carriers; and (3) require the payment of monthly assessments by each issuer offering health insurance coverage.

]]> Small Business Empowerment Act Short Titles as Introduced Small Business Empowerment Act Display Title Small Business Empowerment Act Official Title as Introduced A bill to provide quality, affordable health insurance for small employers and individuals. Introduced in Senate 2008-04-30T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-110s2948is/xml/BILLS-110s2948is.xml 2008-04-30 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.