June 21, 2001

Additional Burden Makes No Sense During Sluggish Economic Times

WASHINGTON -- The Small Business Survival Committee (SBSC), one of the nation`s leading small business organizations, warned today that the proposed Kennedy-McCain Patients Bill of Rights poses a real threat to small businesses and their employees

According to the Congressional Budget Office  (CBO), premiums for employer sponsored health plans will increase 2.9% if the Kennedy-McCain Patient Bill of Rights is enacted into law.

"If the Patients Bill of Rights becomes law, it will close businesses, cost jobs, and reduce the availability of health care for hundreds of thousands of employees, " said SBSC President Darrell McKigney.

"The proposed Patients Bill of Rights will sound the starting gun for trial lawyers across the county," said SBSC president Darrell McKigney.  "More lawsuits will mean higher health costs and that will force many employers to cut employee`s health care and wages - or in some cases - close their doors."

"While there are certainly cases where people have had bad experiences with their health insurers, bringing in a posse of lawmakers and lawyers to solve those problems is just as likely to make things worse  rather than better," McKigney added.  "Ultimately, we need to give employees greater choice through options such as medical savings accounts that allow them to have more direct control over their own health care."

"Small businesses create three-fourths of the new jobs in this country, but they also live on the tightest margins and have the highest failure rates.  At a time when the economy is lagging, it makes no sense to put an additional burden on our nation`s most important and vulnerable employers," McKigney added.

The Small Business Survival Committee is a national small business advocacy organization.  For more information, check out SBSC`s website at www.sbsc.org