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The Business of Health Care Report
A cornerstone of President
Bush’s health care reform proposal is the creation of association health plans.
Today, I’d like to talk about these health plans and how they provide strength in
numbers.
Simply put, association
health plans would enable business and professional associations to band together to
offer health benefits to their members. For example, organizations like the National
Restaurant Association would be able to offer health care insurance to employees of
“mom and pop” diners. By joining an association, these small employers would enjoy
greater bargaining power, economies of scale and administrative efficiencies – benefits
already enjoyed by large companies.
According to a recent survey
sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 55 percent of companies with three to
nine employees offer coverage, compared to 99 percent of firms exceeding 200 workers.
The Employee Benefits Research Institute reports that the number of uninsured is
directly correlated with the size of the firm in which employees work.
Association health plans
currently exist, although each state imposes various regulations on them. Under
President Bush’s plan, these plans would be allowed under federal law, thus avoiding
varying state regulations.
According to the
Congressional Budget Office, small businesses obtaining insurance through association
health plans would benefit from a 13 percent reduction in premiums on average. It also
estimates that between 330,000 and 2 million American workers and their families could
obtain health insurance this way.
In addition to putting small
businesses on a more equitable playing field with large corporations and unions,
association health plans would favorably impact insuring the nearly 44 million people
without health insurance.
For Texas Health Resources
and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian
Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO
Doug Hawthorne
with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio 1080 KRLD.
©
2004 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 