Health Care Reform Proposals Will Raise Premiums and Hurt Kansas Small Businesses
U.S. Senator Pat Roberts said health care reform proposals will raise health insurance premiums and hurt Kansas’ small businesses. Roberts made the remarks at a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee where Sandy Praeger, Kansas Insurance Commissioner, provided testimony echoing these concerns.
“There is no question that the spiraling cost of health insurance poses a huge threat to our small businesses. We know that the primary driver behind the rising costs of health insurance is the rapid increase in the cost of health care,†Roberts said.
“Clearly, reducing these costs should be the primary goal of health care reform. Unfortunately, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), none of the health care reform bills currently before Congress address this goal in any meaningful way.â€
The average small group premium in Kansas is currently over $10,000 for a family and $3,800 for an individual. Estimates project that, under the current health care reform proposals, Kansas small businesses could see increases in premiums up to 28 percent over 10 years.
Roberts noted small business owners who want to provide health insurance to their employees are increasingly having to reduce their contributions or cut down on benefits to afford to do so. Some have been forced to drop their coverage altogether, contributing to Kansas’ rising uninsured rate.
“Until we get health care cost trends under control, health care reform will exacerbate, rather than solve, our current problems,†Roberts said.
In a letter to Chairman Baucus, CBO stated that “premiums in the new insurance exchanges would tend to be higher than average premiums in the current-law market.â€
In addition, other non-partisan entities including the Joint Committee on Taxation, the CMS Office of the Actuary and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners have all come to the same conclusion: the health care reform bills currently before Congress will actually result in higher premiums and higher costs for small businesses and individuals.
Kansas has 60,000 small businesses accounting for almost 97 percent of the state’s employers.
“Under the HELP reform bill, I believe most small businesses in Kansas will be saddled with higher premium costs without having the benefit of the limited tax credits in the bill.
Estimates have found that only 11 percent of small businesses in Kansas’ state cluster would qualify for such benefits.
“We should restart the health care reform process and instead take a step-by-step approach that focuses on lowering the cost of health care for small businesses and for all Americans,†Roberts said.
Roberts is a member of the Senate HELP Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance. He is co-chair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus.
Watch the video related to health care reform bill
December 9, 2009 3:12 am 
By TomStar81, December 9, 2009 @ 3:42 am
Yes you are talking about TORT reform. the Democrats do not want to touch the Lawyers. it seems the Lawyers are in the democrats pocket.*
By Tracy Turnblad, December 9, 2009 @ 4:48 am
First of all, Obama wants to make insurance more available to all and change the system so that it is cheaper. He also wants change so that the insurance companies find it harder to get out of paying for treatment. The system he is proposing looks similar to that which works in Holland and Switzerland where private companies are involved in providing insurance.
Second, of course universal health-cover sucks. That is why we in Western Europe have it. We think, hmm, our healthcare system sucks. I know, lets keep it. I guess that is the same with Japan and Canada as well.
Third, Obama campaigned on reforming the healthcare system. He said he wanted to make insurance more available and he was elected by the American people to do this.
FACT – the US has higher death rates for kids both for kids aged under one and those under five than western European countries with universal health coverage.
FACT – American insurance companies push up prices and work to stop paying out claims on those they cover.
FACT – the USA spends more on healthcare PER PERSON than any other nation on the planet.
That means that a dead American four year old would have had a better chance of life if they were born in Canada, France, Cuba, Germany, Japan etc, all of which have universal health coverage.
Last of all if you do not like the policies that Obama was elected to bring in, he can always be voted out of office in 2012.
By skinnyblink7, December 9, 2009 @ 11:35 am
the new york times has an interactive feature which is actually very clear to understand. check it out.
By The Conservative Resistance, December 10, 2009 @ 11:21 am
Under any Democrat President in history, the same M.O. emerges.
The Democrats "identify" a "crisis" and whip the people up into a frenzy about it. They proclaim themselves the carriers of the elixir that will heroically save all mankind from this "crisis.'' When Republicans seek to oppose the spending it will take for this elixir, they are automatically called hate mongers and obstructionists.
Clinton tried it with school lunch menus. He whipped that whole thing into some kind of "crisis." The Democrats wanted to raise the program by 10% and the Republicans wanted to raise it by 7%. That got reported in the media as a 3% CUT by Republicans. Only when a Democrat is President could an INCREASE be reported as a CUT. Just to make Republicans look bad, but too many people buy into the bullshit.
Al Gore, who wasn't even President, tried it with global warming and it didn't work. Today, it's health care. What'll it be tomorrow? The whole "world is ending in 2012" thing, or what?
By Short, Fast, and Loud, December 11, 2009 @ 9:01 pm
Obama does not have a bill. He has only given guidelines to what he wants. His last address made it more specific.
The bills in congress are not healthcare bills. They are health coverage bills. The government is trying to take control of a large portion of our economy. They are trying to make it so the government is a single payer source (I know i will get thumbs down for this, but follow hr3200 to its logical conclusion).
The current bills want to cover everybody in the US (Illegals too, there is nothing in these bills to prevent illegals from being covered. Amendments to ensure citizenship were tabled)
The federal government wants to punish you for not having insurance (they will get your money one way or another)
The government wants to regulate what care you will get. (When the system becomes overblaoted as any government system does, they will have 2 options increase taxes or ration care)
I know that there are a lot of people that will disagree with this. If they actually read the bills, and follow to there logical conclusions, in 10 years we will be a whole lot worse of than we are now. So doing nothing would actually be cheaper.
Reform must actually deal with the underlaying problems. HR 320o does not. Obama gave lip service to 1 of them.