Washington, D.C. - A delegation of small businesswomen who visited with President Bush today agreed with his assessment that health insurance would become out-of-reach for average small business owners and their employees if the far-reaching liability and regulatory provisions of the Senate-passed "patients' bill of rights" became law.
"Good intentions aside, the effect of far-reaching mandates and onerous regulation will only serve to further escalate the high cost and burden of health care insurance - a burden that has already reached critical levels for both small business and its employees," said Lisa Mauer, president and owner of Tool Service Corporation located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a participant at the event.
According to SBSC, small business owners are naturally wary when the government wants to "help" fix anything -- health insurance included. Women small business owners want the best for their employees and their families, but government-imposed costs on health insurance is impeding their ability -- and in many cases making it impossible - to provide health insurance for their workforce.
"As the owner of a small business with 16 employees, I am concerned whenever
the federal government decides to step into health care. In particular, the 'patients bill of rights' will mean more money in the pockets of bureaucrats and lawyers and less in the pockets of employees and their families. That's a dismal trade-off," remarked Linda Runbeck, owner of Braham Monument located in Braham, Minnesota.
Small Business Survival Committee (SBSC) chairman Karen Kerrigan led the delegation to the White House meeting, and commented that any patients' rights legislation without the safety net of affordable alternatives to the current system is simply not acceptable. SBSC has been pressing the Congress to expand Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) by quickly passing the Thomas-Lipinski/Toricelli-Grassley bipartisan bills to reform and make permanent MSAs.
"If Congress were really interested in patient-run health care they'd put consumers back in charge through universal MSAs. People get to pick and choose their own doctors and MSAS pass the affordability test -- one-third of those purchasing MSAs are the previously uninsured," stated Kerrigan.
Like most woman small business owners do on a daily basis, Mauer bottom-lined the issue from the entrepreneur's perspective, and the employees they provide insurance for. "The real question may be 'whose interest are we serving?' Affordable health care is already a scarce commodity," concluded Mauer.
SBSC is a national, nonprofit small business advocacy organization headquartered in the nation's capital. For more information, please call 202-784-0238 or visit the group's website at
http://www.sbsc.org/.
