[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7350-7351]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        ASSOCIATION HEALTH PLANS

  (Mr. KELLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KELLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the Senate to help 
small business people with the skyrocketing costs of health insurance 
by passing Association Health Plans.
  Of the 45 million Americans without health insurance, 60 percent are 
small business employees and their families. By joining together, small 
businesses in central Florida will have the same bargaining power to 
negotiate lower health insurance rates as big companies, like Disney 
World and Darden. This will help lower their health insurance premiums 
by up to 30 percent, and expand access to millions of people without 
health insurance.
  On April 27, 2005, the House of Representatives passed my Small 
Business Bill of Rights which created a blueprint for this Congress to 
follow to help small business create additional jobs. On the top of the 
list was passage of Association Health Plans.
  Three months later, on July 26, 2005, the House passed Association 
Health Plans with a wide margin of 263-153.

[[Page 7351]]

  I applaud the Senate for taking up this important debate today, and I 
urge them to act now to pass Association Health Plans.

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