[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 24, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H2266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HEALTH REFORM HELPS SMALL BUSINESSES

  (Mr. MURPHY of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. MURPHY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today as someone who 
has been building and starting small businesses for my entire adult 
life. The small businesses in my district have been asking me for a 
long time what will this health insurance reform do for them. I think 
it is very important that we make it clear to them, for our small 
businesses that are less than 50 people, it will not require that they 
provide insurance but rather it will help if they are trying to provide 
insurance.
  For our small businesses, they will be able to get tax incentives to 
help them pay for that insurance that they are trying to buy for their 
employees. It will allow them to band together and purchase as a group 
in a block on an exchange, much like they do with their local chambers 
of commerce today, to try to get purchasing power against those big 
insurance companies so they can hold their costs down.
  It will also help solve one of the biggest costs they face. Today my 
small business owners know that they pay the cost of all of the people 
who use the emergency room for care and can't pay the bills. That is 
all shifted to our small businesses. With this legislation, that will 
go away, providing a big help in terms of keeping their costs down and 
helping our small businesses provide insurance to their employees.
  This bill is going to help our small businesses and help all 
Americans.

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