Jul 26 2005
The nation’s home builders today applauded House passage of H.R. 525, the “Small Business Health Fairness Act.”
The legislation would allow up to 2 million working families who are currently uninsured to obtain health coverage and also enable small businesses to offer better and more affordable coverage for their employees.
“H.R. 525 would help address the rising number of the uninsured and skyrocketing cost of health care by allowing small businesses to band together through associations to purchase quality health care at a lower cost,” said David Wilson, president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a custom builder from Ketchum, Idaho.
Sponsored by Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio), Sam Johnson (R-Texas), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) and Albert Wynn (D-Md.), the legislation passed the House with strong bipartisan support. By providing small businesses with greater options to secure stable and affordable health coverage for their employees, association health plans legislation H.R. 525 would help as many as 2 million previously uninsured workers receive coverage if this measure is enacted into law, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are roughly 45 million uninsured individuals in the country today, up from 41 million four years ago and 43.6 million in the past two years.
More than 24 million of these workers are employed by small businesses.
“To underscore the importance of this issue to home builders and the nation’s small businesses, NAHB designated consideration of the measure as a key vote,” said Wilson. “We urge the Senate to act promptly on companion bill S. 545 so that America’s working families can start receiving the cost-effective, high-quality health care coverage they deserve.”