Release Date: 11/15/2004
President Bush's apparent re-election bodes well for health-care reforms sought by small businesses, including association health plans and limits on medical malpractice lawsuits.
Most small business groups want Congress to pass legislation exempting health plans offered by national trade associations from state regulation and coverage mandates. This would allow small businesses to pool their purchasing power and obtain health insurance at cheaper rates, supporters say.
The House has approved formation of association health plans, and President Bush supports them. But the legislation has stalled in the Senate.
This could change in a second Bush term. Senate Republican leaders plan to take up legislation in the first 90 days of the next Congress that addresses the growing numbers of Americans without health insurance, says Jack Faris, president of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Association health plans will "be part of what's looked at," Faris says.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry opposes association health plans. But Bush will be in a strong position to lobby senators on behalf of AHPs in a second term, Faris says.
"He walks in with a pretty good hand," Faris says.
The defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., increases the odds for association health plans to pass to more than 50 percent, Faris adds.
Pat Cleary, senior vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, agrees a re-elected President Bush will have "political capital" that "greases the wheels" for legislation he wants. But he's not as confident as Faris that association health plans will become reality.
"Anything having to do with health care gets a little dicey," Cleary says.
NAM, however, will "be on board" for association health plans, he says, as well as expansion of health savings accounts -- IRA-like accounts that individuals can use to purchase health insurance on their own.
Critics of association health plans, however, say they would offer minimal coverage attractive only to employers whose workers are relatively healthy. This could raise health insurance premiums for small businesses who remain in the conventional health insurance market, they say.
Eventually, premiums also would go up for businesses covered by association health plans as their workers develop more health problems, says Jere Glover, who headed the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy during the Clinton administration.
Bush can probably get association health plans through Congress, Glover says, but they will provide "only a short-term benefit" for small businesses.
"Over time," he says, "they don't solve health care problems."