Press Release

English Unites with Local Employers to Announce Affordable Health Insurance Plan for Small Businesses

Greenville, Pa. — Today, U.S. Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.), a senior member of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, and Kevin Shivers, the Pennsylvania State Director for the National Federation of Independent Business, along with local small business owner Doug Anderson, of Anderson Coach and Travel, touted new, breakthrough legislation designed to make health insurance more accessible for the 47.1 million employees of the nation’s 5.8 small businesses and for 14.1 self-employed individuals.

H.R. 6210, the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Act will make health insurance more available and affordable for small businesses and their employees.  H.R. 6210 is companion legislation to Senator Durbin’s (D-Ill.) S. 2795, introduced in early April.

“As healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, American entrepreneurs and small businesses are all too often forced to choose between the livelihood of their business and the quality of benefits they provide to their workers,” said English, the lead Republican sponsor of the bill. “Today, I am delighted to announce a new break-the-mold healthcare initiative that has united a broad coalition including small businesses, professionals, organized labor and a diverse group of lawmakers that are committed to improving healthcare coverage in America. The SHOP Act is an innovative, bipartisan compromise that will go a long way to increasing access to affordable, quality healthcare in our country.”

 “NFIB has long believed that to preserve the strength of America’s job creators – small businesses – we must make health insurance more affordable,” said Kevin Shivers, NFIB Pennsylvania State Director.  “The SHOP Act achieves the goal of increased affordability and access through pooling, market reform and tax-based incentives. NFIB strongly supports the SHOP Act and applauds Cong. English for his commitment to finding commonsense and workable solutions to provide overdue and much needed relief to our nation’s job creators.”

The SHOP Act, formally introduced by English and U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) lowers healthcare costs for small businesses by allowing them to band together to obtain lower premiums, provide tax credits for small business owners to offset contributions to employee premiums, and ban health status rating in order to protect businesses from large rate increases simply because one employee gets sick. 

“By establishing a nationwide health insurance pool for small businesses and the self-employed, we can break down the barriers to affordable health insurance and ensure these job producing employers can provide their workers with stronger healthcare options with more choices at a lower cost,” English continued.                                   

The measure brings business and labor together toward a common goal of reducing healthcare costs for small businesses so that more workers are covered and small businesses are more competitive.  The legislation has been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), National Association of Realtors, American Rental Association, National Association of Homebuilders, National Funeral Directors Association, National Roofing Contractors Association, Families USA, National Partnership for Women & Families, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the National Patient Advocate Foundation.

“For too many small business owners, healthcare is one of their fastest growing and most unpredictable costs,” Shivers said. “Getting healthcare costs under control is central to the success of our nation’s small businesses – and to the larger American economy, which depends on small business as an engine for growth and success.”

The SHOP Act will make health insurance more affordable, predictable and accessible for small businesses and the self-employed by:

• Allowing small businesses and the self employed to band together in a statewide or nationwide pool to obtain lower health insurance prices by spreading their risk over a larger number of participants. 
• Keeping prices low by offering a range of private health plans that have to compete for business.
• Providing small business owners with an annual tax credit of up to $1,000 per employee ($2,000 for family coverage) if they pay for 60% of their employees’ premiums, and a bonus tax credit if they pay for more than 60% of the premiums. Self-employed individuals would get a $1,800 annual tax credit ($3,600 for family coverage) to purchase health insurance.
• Cutting down on administrative costs for small businesses – today, small businesses spend almost 25 percent of health insurance premiums on administrative costs, compared to 10 percent for large employers.
• Banning the practice of rating insurance based on health status and claims experience so that premium increases will be more stable and predictable.
• Providing a web site with comparative information about a variety of private health plans.
• Putting in place accountability measures using existing structures like those use by state insurance commissioners to ensure that all health plans meet state requirements for financial solvency, network adequacy, and claims and appeal procedures.

“There is no question that many Americans are unable to afford the healthcare that they need,” English said.  “While there is no single silver bullet, and many varied reasons for this, I am optimistic that if we work together, we can help implement programs and policies, just like the SHOP Act that will lead to affordable healthcare and fewer Americans without health insurance.”

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