Senate Should Pass Association Health Plan Bill

The Senate should pass a bill (S 1955) that would allow small businesses to form association health plans under certain conditions to help "make insurance more affordable," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) writes in a Des Moines Register opinion piece.

"While nearly all small-scale employers want to provide affordable health insurance, expensive and burdensome benefit mandates make doing so very difficult," Frist writes, adding, "By themselves, small firms and self-employed people have almost no leverage with insurance companies." Frist writes, "I believe that health insurance fairness will prove critical to the continued success of our nation's small businesses, and, when Congress takes up health care reform in May, I plan to make sure that the Senate votes on it."

He concludes, "Fixing America's health coverage system will take a lot of work. Making it easier for small businesses to purchase affordable health coverage would represent an important first step" (Frist, Des Moines Register, 4/21).