[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 171 (Wednesday, November 18, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11444-S11445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, as the former owner and manager of a 
small retail business, I know very personally what it is like to worry 
about meeting the payroll, about whether you can pay for the inventory 
to keep your business going, about complying with the myriad of 
regulations you have to comply with.
  As a former Governor, I certainly understand it is business and not 
government that creates jobs and drives new ideas and innovation. But I 
also know that government has a vital role to play in addressing the 
challenges businesses and small businesses face, especially in these 
very difficult economic times. One of those challenges small businesses 
are struggling with is the high cost of health care.
  In New Hampshire, between 2002 and 2006, small businesses paid 42 
percent more in premiums for health insurance for their employees; and 
for our smallest businesses, those with fewer than 10 employees, the 
increase was almost double that--a 71-percent increase in the cost of 
premiums.
  So what does that mean for the small businesses and their employees 
who want health care? It means small businesses have to make the tough 
decision to either drop coverage for their workers or to increase the 
employee contributions, often to the point where their workers cannot 
afford coverage.
  Everywhere I go in New Hampshire, I hear from small business owners 
who tell me about these tough decisions they face. I heard this concern 
from Adria Bagshaw who testified this summer at a Small Business 
Committee field hearing Senator Snowe and I did in Portsmouth, NH. 
Adria and her husband Aaron own the W.H. Bagshaw Company, a fifth-
generation family manufacturing company in Nashua, NH. They offer 
health insurance to their 18 employees and cover a portion of the 
monthly premium for them. But with those premiums at $1,100 per month 
per family, they spent more on health insurance for the first half of 
this year than they spent on the raw materials they need to make their 
products at their manufacturing company. Understandably, Adria worries 
they are going to need to cut back on the quality of health insurance 
plans they offer their employees or the amount the company covers to 
help pay for those premiums.
  I have also heard from people such as Chick Colony who is a small 
business owner in Harrisville, NH. He has a wonderful weaving company 
that has been in Harrisville for generations. He e-mailed me, saying:

       The cost of health insurance is the biggest problem that 
     our small . . . business faces.

  They have 24 employees. He went on to say:

       The present system is expensive, inefficient and broken. I 
     can't tell you how the 20 to 35 percent annual rate increases 
     depress us all and there is no end in sight. Over the past 
     five years, most of our employees have had to drop coverage 
     because they simply can't afford to pay their share of the 
     premium. I really believe that the time has come to put the 
     existing system out of its misery.

  Certainly we hope we can do that.
  I have also heard from Kevin Boyarsky, who is an owner of a small 
printing company in Concord. He told me:

       Health insurance premiums have gone up 30 percent last year 
     and 22 percent the year before. It's now a very big item in 
     our company's budget. We want to grow and be competitive, but 
     the high costs make it hard. From a small business 
     perspective, I can't attract employees without good coverage, 
     but if I hire you now, I'll only be able to offer you 50 
     percent of the individual plan. It's all I can afford and it 
     isn't very attractive to employees.

  Small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country are burdened 
by high premiums for health insurance. In fact, statistics show us that 
small businesses pay, on average, 18 percent more than large plans for 
the same insurance policy. And for small businesses that do not offer 
their employees health insurance, they cite the high cost of premiums 
as the reason why.
  We need comprehensive health reform to help these small businesses. 
The small business owners I have spoken with want to offer insurance to 
their employees, both because they believe it is not only the right 
thing to do, but it is critical to being competitive, to recruiting and 
retaining good employees. But as they so often tell me, the high cost 
of insurance stands in their way.
  Health reform is critical to these folks. We can help them by passing 
comprehensive insurance reforms that rein in health care premiums, so 
it stabilizes costs, and provide tax credits to small businesses to 
help them afford the cost of health insurance. I believe we must take 
these measures to help level the playing field for small businesses and 
to make insurance premiums more affordable.
  Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. That is where most 
of the jobs in this country are created. We have to control health care 
costs to relieve the financial burden, so that so many of these small 
businesses in New Hampshire and across the country no longer have to 
face the choice of whether they can keep health insurance or hire 
employees.

[[Page S11445]]

  I urge all of my colleagues to work together so we can pass 
comprehensive health reform legislation. We need to pass it, and we 
need to pass it soon.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts is 
recognized.

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