Release Date: 9/08/2004

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is urging Congress to move rapidly to enact association health plan legislation to help relieve the nation’s health care crisis, following release of a new government report showing that the number of Americans without health insurance continues to climb.

“Clearly, association health plans represent a sound strategy to help alleviate the rising number of uninsured and soaring health care costs over the past decade that have driven many small businesses out of the health insurance market entirely,” said Jerry Howard, executive vice president and CEO of NAHB.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans who currently have no health coverage has risen from 43.6 million last year to 45 million, representing 15.6 percent of the population. Approximately 60 percent of the uninsured are in families headed by an employee of a small business.

To correct this situation, Senate bill S. 545 – sponsored by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Christopher Bond (R-Mo.), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) – would allow small business owners to band together across state lines through membership in a bona fide local, state or national trade association to leverage their size, just as large businesses and unions do, to negotiate lower insurance costs and more options.

Similar legislation was approved earlier this year by the House and association health plans have the strong backing of the Bush Administration and more than 160 trade associations.

“Hopefully, the new Census study will provide the impetus for the Senate to act on S. 545 this fall in order to strengthen America’s health care system and enable more small businesses to provide their employees access to quality, cost-effective health care coverage,” said Howard.