Congressman Mike Sodrel

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Congressman Sodrel Working to Make Health Care More Affordable

As a small businessman and employer, Congressman Sodrel is concerned about the growing pressures on businesses trying to ensure that their employees have access to health insurance that is both comprehensive and affordable.

Insurance is about spreading risk among a large number of people who mutually contribute to cover expenses. Small employers have a small number of members of their pool to cover risk resulting in higher prices. Allowing multiple employers to join together in larger pools reduces costs for everyone. Congressman Sodrel is co-sponsor to H.R. 525 to allow businesses to join Association Health Plans in order to continue to provide medical insurance coverage to their employees at an affordable price. H.R. 525 passed the House on July 26, 2005 and is awaiting action in the Senate.

Similarly, laws that confine risk pools within state boundaries make it harder to spread risk and lower cost. Congressman Sodrel is co-sponsor to H.R. 2355, the Health Care Choice Act of 2005, which would allow health insurers to offer coverage across state lines in order to increase competition, lower prices, and spread the insurance risk across more participants making the cost of health coverage more attainable to more people.

It is in the public interest to encourage everyone to purchase health insurance. Allowing payment of premiums with untaxed money reduces overall cost of insurance for individuals. Congressman Sodrel is co-sponsor to H.R. 994 to allow federal civilian and military retirees to pay health insurance premiums on a pre-tax basis in order to make health insurance more affordable.

For the same reason, allowing individuals to pay for health care with untaxed money, Congressman Sodrel is co-sponsor to H.R. 4625, the Health Care Freedom of Choice Act, which would allow the FULL deductibility of all health care costs incurred by individuals (and not reimbursed by insurance) including health insurance premiums purchased by individual taxpayers. The effect is to lower the cost to everyone by encouraging individuals to buy insurance, making it more affordable, and sparing the public the cost of providing care for those who otherwise could not afford coverage.