Association Health Plan Bill Remains in Limbo,
But Backers Look for Action This Year
House Republican leaders revived the issue of small business health reform in late July when they carefully considered attaching the Association Health Plan bill (H.R. 525) as a sweetener to legislation that would increase the federal minimum wage. But it was decided that pairing AHP legislation with the minimum wage increase was unlikely to achieve the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the Senate. Instead, the minimum wage increase was combined with estate tax reform and a series of tax credits (H.R. 5970) that went down in flames in the Senate just before the August recess.
So where does that leave AHP legislation when Congress reconvenes on September 5? H.R. 525 was approved by the House in July, 2005, with strong bipartisan support, but has not been acted upon further because a minority of senators blocked further consideration of the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S. 1955), Small Business Health Plan (SBHP) legislation similar to H.R. 525, on a procedural vote in the Senate in May.
The failure of the Senate to approve H.R. 5970 is highly significant, as it increases the opportunity for further consideration of packaging some version of AHP/SBHP legislation with other bills that may be taken up by Congress in the fall, according to The Association Healthcare Coalition (TAHC), of which WANADA is a member with other groups.
TAHC notes that Senators Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Ben Nelson (D-Nebr.), chief cosponsors of S. 1955, and Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.), chief cosponsors of the original AHP bill (S. 406) in the Senate, continue to talk with other senators about potential changes to S.1955 that would enable the bill to garner 60 votes. In addition, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) says he is committed to bringing SBHP legislation to the Senate floor again given the fact that public opinion polls indicate the issue of rising health care costs is a major concern of voters.
TAHC reports that, many Senate Democrats continue to believe that any compromise health reform legislation must include components of their preferred bill, S. 2510, which would establish a large health insurance plan for small employers run by the federal government.
In order for S. 1955 to be brought up in the Senate again this year, or for any version of S. 1955 or H.R. 525 to be packaged with other major legislative initiatives before the November elections, more pressure must be brought to bear on at least four senators who voted against the Enzi/Nelson bill in May. TAHC will be working to contact 11 key Democratic senators most likely to change their vote. In this region, Senators Mikulski and Sarbanes are not on TAHCês list.
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