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| Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson speaks about making health insurance affordable at Sehnerts Bakery in McCook |
Making Health Insurance Affordable
What is the bill?
Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005, S. 1955
Cosponsored by Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson and Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.
Why is this bill necessary?
Health insurance premiums are rising at double-digit rates of inflation and Nebraska’s small businesses and working families can’t keep up with the runaway pace.
Nebraska is home to 30,000 small businesses. Today, 20,000 small businesses in Nebraska aren’t able to provide health insurance for their workers. If nothing is done, how much worse will that number become tomorrow?
How does this bill help?
Senator Nelson’s plan levels the playing field and allows business and trade associations to band their members together and offer group health coverage on a national or statewide basis. The bill:
• Streamlines the current confusing, overlapping and varying state regulations;
• Preserves the primary role of the states in health insurance oversight and consumer protection;
• Makes lower-cost health plan options available; and
• Achieves meaningful reform without a huge federal price tag.
What’s different about Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson’s Plan?
This bill is different from the association health plan (AHP) legislation that has been introduced for more than a decade and never moved in the Senate because this bill:
• Marks the first time state insurance commissioners, insurance carriers, and small business groups have all come together to find a workable solution;
• Provides much needed consumer protections by making sure state insurance commissioners retain their oversight ability to protect consumers; and
• Avoids disrupting the market by providing the same set of fair rules for everyone.
