[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 97 (Friday, June 27, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SMALL BUSINESS HEALTH FAIRNESS ACT OF 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 19, 2003

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, we have over 40 million people 
without health insurance today. Over the course of this year, another 
20 million or so will find themselves without healthcare coverage for 
some period of time. The lack of insurance leads to decreased access to 
care, decreased lifespan, and increased morbidity. When people do not 
have health insurance, they are more likely to have uncontrolled 
disease, and the suffering that goes with it. They are also more likely 
to end up in the hospital or emergency room. A small business that 
cannot afford to purchase a health plan will, therefore, have workers 
who are more likely to call in sick, or to need long-term sick leave. 
And in today's economic situation, many small business owners simply do 
not have the funds to meet the exorbitant costs of health insurance. So 
they are caught between a rock and a hard place.
  The lack of affordable health insurance costs our nation billions in 
avoidable costs each year, and has made enormous health care bills the 
number one cause of bankruptcy for the American people. This is a 
devastating and complex problem. There is no easy answer to solving it; 
it will require a well-thought-out bipartisan approach to enact 
meaningful legislation to improve access to care. The legislation 
before us today is not all that it could be or should be. However, it 
is a step in the right direction, that we cannot afford not to take.
  The federal government is not the only entity grappling with the 
challenges of getting adequate health insurance to the American people. 
States have been working on this issue for decades, and have brokered 
extensive agreements and regulations with the insurance industry to 
protect consumers. This legislation will exempt AHPs from those state 
regulations. This is misguided and dangerous. As we go to conference 
with the other body, we must work to ensure that we do not undo the 
good work that states have done in the past. AHPs can be an important 
piece to the health insurance puzzle, but they should not bypass the 
safety mechanisms that have protected patients for decades.
  If this bill is signed into law as written, people in my state of 
Texas will lose the right to demand independent external review of 
their claims. AHPs will not be required to cover emergency services, or 
diabetes care, or mammograms, or to charge fair premiums to the old or 
sick. AHPs will also have the ability to ``cherry pick,'' that is to 
offer inexpensive plans to some associations--maybe groups of fitness 
clubs or software companies that tend to be full of younger or 
healthier people--while gouging associations that employ more 
experienced workers, or the disabled. The CBO and the Urban Institute 
have issued studies that predict that AHPs would do little to improve 
the uninsured problem, and may actually make it worse--unless we make 
them responsive to the demands of state legislators.
  The states have been quite successful in regulating the insurance 
industry and protecting their consumers. Why should we undermine that? 
The CBO and numerous other groups have predicted that this bill will 
destabilize the health insurance industry in America--and actually 
increase the number of people without insurance while raising the costs 
of those with it. That is why over 500 groups have expressed formal 
opposition to this bill, including the National Governors Association, 
both the Republican and Democratic Governors Associations, the AFL-CIO, 
physicians groups, providers groups, insurance trade association, many 
chambers of commerce, and at least a hundred consumer/advocacy groups.
  I am voting for this bill today, because our nation's small 
businesses need relief, and their employees desperately need health 
insurance coverage. I will follow this bill as it goes through 
conference. If we can find a way to harvest the good that AHPs can do, 
while protecting consumers from ``cherry picking,'' or price gouging, 
or benefit reductions--by keeping AHPs under control of state 
regulations--I will proudly support the bill. If it comes back in the 
form it is in today, I will vote against it.

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