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Weekly Address: Health Insurance Reform, Small Business and Your Questions (July 25 2009)
Poziom:
Temat: Biznes
The President:
I recently heard from a small business owner from New Jersey
who wrote that he employs eight
people and provides health
insurance for all of them.
But his policy goes up at least
20% each year, and today,
it costs almost $1,400
per family per month --
his highest business expense
beside employees' salaries.
He's already had to
let two of them go,
and he may be forced to
eliminate health insurance altogether.
He wrote, simply: "I'm not
looking for free health care,
I would just like to get my
premiums reduced enough to be
able to afford it."
Day after day, I hear from
people just like him.
Workers worried they may lose
their coverage if they become
too sick, or lose their
job, or change jobs.
Families who fear they may
not be able to get insurance,
or change insurance, if
someone in their family has a
pre-existing condition.
And small business owners trying
to make a living and do right by
the people they employ.
These are the mom and pop
stores and restaurants,
beauty shops and construction
companies that support families
and sustain communities.
They're the tiny
startups with big ideas,
hoping to become the next
Google or Apple or HP.
And, as shown in a new report
released today by the White
House Council of
Economic Advisers,
right now they are getting
crushed by skyrocketing health care costs.
Because they lack the bargaining
power that large businesses have
and face higher administrative
costs per person,
small businesses pay up to 18%
more for the very same health
insurance plans -- costs that eat into their profits and get
passed on to their employees.
As a result, small businesses
are much less likely to offer
health insurance.
Those that do tend to
have less generous plans.
In a recent survey, one third
of small businesses reported
cutting benefits.
Many have dropped
coverage altogether.
And many have shed jobs, or
shut their doors entirely.
This is unsustainable,
it's unacceptable,
and it's going to change when
I sign health insurance reform
into law.
Under the reform
plans in Congress,
small businesses will be able
to purchase health insurance
through an "insurance exchange,"
a marketplace where they can
compare the price, quality and
services of a wide variety of
plans, many of which will
provide better coverage at lower
costs than the
plans they have now.
They can then pick the one that
works best for them and their employees.
Small businesses that choose to
insure their employees will also
receive a tax credit to
help them pay for it.
If a small business chooses
not to provide coverage,
its employees can
purchase high quality,
affordable coverage through the
insurance exchange on their own.
Low-income workers -- folks who are more likely to be working at
small businesses -- will qualify for a subsidy to help them cover the costs.
And no matter how you
get your insurance,
insurance companies will no
longer be allowed to deny you
coverage because of a
pre-existing condition.
They won't be able to drop your
coverage if you get too sick or
lose your job or change jobs.
And we'll limit the amount your
insurance company can force you
to pay out of your own pocket.
To view the new report and learn
more about how health insurance
reform will help
small businesses,
go to whitehouse.gov, and send
us your questions and comments
-- we'll answer as many of
them as we can later this week.
Over the past few months, I've
been pushing hard to make sure
we finally address the need
for health insurance reform,
which has been deferred year
after year, decade after decade.
And today, after a lot
of hard work in Congress,
we are closer than ever before
to finally passing reform that
will reduce costs,
expand coverage,
and provide more choices for
our families and businesses.
It's taken months
to reach this point,
and once this
legislation passes,
we'll need to move thoughtfully
and deliberately to implement
these reforms over a
period of several years.
That's why I feel such a sense
of urgency about moving this
process forward.
Now I know there are those who
are urging us to delay reform.
And some of them have actually
admitted that this is a tactic
designed to stop
any reform at all.
Some have even suggested that,
regardless of its merits,
health care reform should be
stopped as a way to inflict
political damage on
my Administration.
I'll leave it to them to explain
that to the American people.
What I'm concerned about is the
damage that's being done right
now to the health
of our families,
the success of our businesses,
and the long-term fiscal
stability of our government.
I'm concerned about hard working
folks who want nothing more than
the security that comes with
knowing they can get the care
they need, when they need it.
I'm concerned about the small
business owners who are asking
for nothing more than a chance
to seize their piece of the
American Dream.
I'm concerned about our children
and our grandchildren who will
be saddled with deficits that will continue piling up year
after year unless
we pass reform.
This debate is not a political
game for these Americans,
and they cannot afford to
keep waiting for reform.
We owe it to them to
finally get it done --
and to get it done this year.
Thanks.
