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NASE Testifies To House Small Business Committee On Health Care Reform
On Tuesday, February 7, NASE’s President and CEO Keith Hall testified to the House Small Business Committee on what our members want and need to see from any health care reform efforts. Under the title, “Reimagining the Health Care Marketplace for America’s Small Businesses,” Mr. Hall focused on three key areas: quality, accessibility, and affordability.
QUALITY
The NASE highlighted two good public policy initiatives that should be maintained in any reform efforts, protection against pre-existing conditions exclusion and Essential Health Benefits/Preventative Health Services.
ACCESSIBILITY
For definition purposes, we define accessibility as how our members purchase health insurance and access the benefits of those plans. The NASE continues to advocate for permission to sell insurance across state lines and increased access to care.
AFFORDABILITY
Mr. Hall emphasized over and over, for NASE members, the single greatest driver in their evaluation and decision in purchasing health insurance is affordability. In our view, the ACA has proven that consumers are not prioritizing essential health benefits or lifetime limits, but are instead solely fixated on the bottom line costs of purchasing health insurance. Such efforts to allow for the self-employed to deduct the cost of health insurance and the expansion of consumer driven health care products, are two key aspects to addressing affordability.
The NASE continues to be a voice of common-sense solutions for health care reform and will advocate for the key provisions above in any legislation that is proposed.
You can read, in full, the NASE’s submitted testimony here.
Katie Vlietstra is NASE’s Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs