[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25788]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                HEALTH CARE REFORM FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

  (Mrs. DAHLKEMPER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, I came to Congress in January to make a 
difference for my community, to make a difference for my district.
  Today, I heard from one of my constituents who owns a small business, 
a printing company in northwestern Pennsylvania. This small business 
owner received notification that health care premiums for his business 
are increasing by 51.1 percent this year. That dwarfs the 14 percent 
increase of last year and the 20 percent increase from the previous 
year and dwarfs the 28 percent increase that I saw in my own small 
business when I was still working there.
  Anyone who has ever worked in a small business knows that these costs 
are unsustainable. This small business owner told me that his business' 
new family rate will be in excess of $1,700 per month. He wrote, ``I 
don't know what can be done, but it is small businesses like mine that 
cannot afford these increases.''
  Mr. Speaker, we must not allow our small businesses to suffer so 
unnecessarily when something can be done. This is a clear and urgent 
need to pass health care reform legislation. I encourage my colleagues 
on both sides of the aisle to embrace reform.

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