Business/Tax

Access to Affordable Health Care

Issue
A major concern facing the engineering industry and the business community in general is the difficulty in finding affordable health insurance. This is a challenge for businesses of all sizes, but the problem hits smaller firms particularly hard. Nationwide, over 60% of the 45 million uninsured are Americans who own a small business, are employed by a small business, or are the dependent of an employer or employee. Furthermore, the explosive growth in health insurance premiums is making it harder for those employers that currently provide coverage to continue doing so—for example, group premiums for family coverage have increased by 60% since 2000.

Association-sponsored health plans are one option to help business owners, especially small business owners, and employees gain much needed access to affordable, quality health benefits. Association-sponsored health plans enable businesses to band together across state lines, through bona fide trade associations, to achieve greater economies of scale, purchasing clout, and administrative efficiency when purchasing health insurance.

ACEC is currently among the few trade associations that make it possible for member firms large and small to access quality health insurance coverage. The ACEC Life/Health Insurance Trust represents a working example of how the association-sponsored health plan model can be a competitive option for businesses owners searching for quality, affordable health insurance. Approximately one third of ACEC's 5,700 members have taken advantage of the insurance products offered through the Trust. In order to serve all ACEC members in every state, however, ACEC must comply with a myriad of state insurance regulations that add significant administrative burdens and costs. In some extreme cases, state regulations effectively prevent the Trust from offering competitive products to ACEC members—for example, small firms in Maryland cannot access the Trust because of conflicting state regulations.

Legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives, H.R. 241, the Small Business Health Fairness Act, which will make it easier for ACEC and other associations to offer affordable, quality health insurance products to their members. Association members will have more flexibility to choose a plan that works best for them, and the streamlined regulatory reforms will reduce administrative costs, thus improving savings for consumers.

ACEC Position
ACEC strongly supports H.R. 241 and encourages the House and Senate to act in 2008 on this and other legislative initiatives that will allow businesses to pool together across state lines to purchase health insurance.