It's Time to Put American Families and Small Businesses in Control of Their Own Health Care

According to a report released yesterday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, President Obama's proposal for health insurance reform will provide insurance for 32,000,000 Americans -- more than the populations of Arizona, Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia combined -- thus guaranteeing that 95 percent of working Americans will be covered.

President Obama's health insurance reform plan will:

* Make health insurance affordable for middle-class households and small businesses -- including the largest middle-class tax cuts for health care in history -- reducing premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

* Strengthen consumer protections and reins in insurance-company abuses.

* Give millions of Americans the same types of private insurance choices that members of Congress will have -- through a new, competitive health insurance market that keeps costs down.

* Hold insurance companies accountable to keep premiums down and prevent denials of care and coverage, including for pre-existing conditions.

* Improve Medicare benefits -- with lower prescription drug costs for those in the "donut hole," better chronic care, free preventive care, and nearly a decade more of solvency for Medicare.

* Trim the federal deficit by $130 billion over next 10 years, and $1.2 trillion dollars over the following decade -- reining in waste, fraud and abuse; overpayments to insurance companies; and by paying for quality over quantity of care.

As President Obama says, "We must act now" and put American families and small businesses -- not health insurance companies -- in control of their own health care.

For more information, go to:

* Americans for Stable Quality Care: http://www.stablequalitycare.org/

* CNN/Health Care in America: http://bit.ly/HealthCareInAmerica

* HealthReform.gov: http://www.healthreform.gov/

* Kaiser Family Foundation: http://healthreform.kff.org/

By all accounts, the final-stretch vote on health insurance reform will happen as soon as this Sunday [March 21]. To encourage your U.S. senators and representatives in Congress to pass this historic health reform legislation, please visit the following website for contact info: http://bit.ly/ElectedOfficials

SOURCES: Congressional Budget Office, Politico, U.S. Census Bureau, USA.gov, The White House
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March 17: Secretary Sebelius Takes Questions About Health Reform Via Yahoo! News and Ustream at 5:15 p.m. ET

Today, as our nation enters the home stretch on health reform, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will take your questions via Yahoo! News and Ustream. You can e-mail your questions to news-editorial@yahoo-inc.com, and then join the chat at 5:15 p.m. ET. The entire event will stream via White House Live.

"President Obama's health insurance reform plan will make our insurance system work for families, small-business owners, and individuals," Sebelius wrote in an op-ed piece published in today's Yahoo! News.

"First, it will protect families by ending the worst insurance practices," Sebelius explained. "It will outlaw the practice of arbitrarily canceling someone’s coverage and eliminate caps on benefits. It will also forbid insurance companies from denying you coverage because of a pre-existing condition like high blood pressure. So for the first time ever, every American will be able to get an insurance policy.

"Second, it will give self-employed workers and small-business owners the same private insurance choices as members of Congress by creating a new, consumer-friendly insurance marketplace called an exchange. Because this marketplace will allow consumers to band together to negotiate lower rates, it's estimated that premiums for many consumers will go down 14 to 20 percent for comparable coverage. And it will provide tax credits to help middle-class Americans and small-business owners buy insurance.

"Third, the president's plan will bring down costs for families, businesses, and government with the broadest package of health care cost-cutting measures that has ever come before Congress. A report from the Business Roundtable [an association of CEOs from leading U.S. companies] says these reforms could lower costs by as much as $3,000 per employee. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the president's plan will lower the federal deficit by about $100 billion over the next 10 years.

"Collectively, these changes will help give Americans control of their health care choices..."

To learn about what President Obama's proposal for health insurance reform specifically means to you, go directly to the following sites:

* Own a small business? http://bit.ly/SmallBizOwnersFAQ

* Have insurance through work? http://bit.ly/ThroughWorkFAQ

* Have Medicare coverage? http://bit.ly/MedicareFAQ

* Don't have any insurance? http://bit.ly/NoInsuranceFAQ

* Buy your own insurance? http://bit.ly/BuyOwnInsuranceFAQ

GoodBiz113's take: Health reform deserves everyone's full attention and understanding. Make time to learn about how President Obama's proposal for health reform will benefit you, your family, and/or small business. Then, contact your senator and/or representative in Congress ASAP, and ask them to vote for the triple-win plan this week: http://bit.ly/ElectedOfficials

SOURCES: Congressional Budget Office, HealthReform.gov, USA.gov, The White House [photo], Yahoo! News
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As Key Senate Health Care Vote Nears, Landrieu Aims to 'Institute the Right Reforms' to Aid America's Small Businesses, Workers, Families

Today, on the eve of a pivotal U.S. Senate vote to begin the debate on health care reform, Sen. Mary Landrieu [D-La., pictured], chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, pledged her support to do what's right for small businesses, their workers, and families.

"As you may know, this week, the Senate unveiled its healthcare legislation," Landrieu wrote in a letter to small-biz stakeholders across the nation. "This bill will create a system of exchanges that will pool small businesses to spread risk, lower costs, and give owners and employees more predictable, quality health care choices.

"To ensure these exchanges work effectively, the bill contains consumer protections and market reforms -- including prohibiting insurance companies from denying or rescinding coverage based on health status and an individual mandate to obtain coverage rather than an employer mandate to provide coverage.

"While these reforms are a step in the right direction, there is still more work to do. As we continue negotiations to reform our nation’s health care system, I will persist in working to ensure that the concerns of our nation’s 29 million small businesses remain a central focus. Today, it is more important than ever for Congress to work together to institute the right reforms to aid America’s small businesses and families."

To help clarify how the Senate health care bill -- dubbed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- affects small businesses, Landrieu's committee has compiled a fact sheet that highlights the bill's key points:

Why Small Businesses Need Reform
* Fewer small businesses offer coverage: Over the last ten years, the percentage of small businesses [i.e., with fewer than 200 employees] offering health benefits has dropped from 56 percent to 46 percent.

* Small businesses are not providing insurance because they cannot afford it: America’s small businesses will spend $156 billion on health coverage this year alone.

* Lack of competition causes small firms to pay more: Big companies with more people to spread risk have lower rates because of a lack of competition, causing small firms to pay 18 percent more.

* More jobs will be lost without the right reforms: In 2018 alone, 178,000 small business jobs will be lost due to the high cost of health care.

* Without the right reforms, small businesses will pay more: By 2018, small businesses are expected to spend nearly $2.4 trillion on health coverage.

How This Bill Helps
* Makes health care more affordable: Improves affordability by instituting exchanges that will provide small businesses with more choices and lower costs.

* Tax credits increase affordability: Provides tax credits to small businesses, to make coverage more affordable and to encourage employees to enter into exchanges.

* Levels the playing field for small businesses: By pooling employees in small firms, the exchange system will make small businesses more equal to their larger competitors.

* Promotes entrepreneurship and creates jobs: Encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to start their own businesses by providing realistic health coverage choices for themselves and employees.

* More quality coverage: Consumer protections and market reforms, like preventing insurers from denying or rescinding coverage based on health status, will ensure that the largest possible pool is participating in the exchanges and help bring down costs.

GoodBiz113's take: The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit by $127 billion over the next 10 years, and as much as $650 billion in the decade following -- saving hundreds of billions of dollars while extending coverage to 31 million more Americans. We appreciate Sen. Landrieu's leadership and advocacy on this landmark legislation to reform health care, and hope that she and her colleagues pass it by year's end.

SOURCES: Congressional Budget Office, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship
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