• Legislative Alert: Contact Your Members of Congress Regarding Small Business Access to Affordable Health Care!

• NASE Members Stand to Prosper with Bush Small Business Agenda
• NASE Scores Victory with Passage of Stimulus Bill

Legislative Alert: Contact Your Members of Congress Regarding Small Business Access to Affordable Health Care!

The micro-business and self-employed communities are in the throes of a health care crisis!

Already exorbitant health care premiums are continuing to skyrocket at alarming rates. More and more self-employed individuals and micro-business employers and employees are uninsured.

According to the October 2001 General Accounting Office Report on Private Health Insurance, only 36% of employers with fewer than 10 workers offered health coverage to their employees despite the fact that they represent about 61% of small employer establishments. The report cited the primary reason small employers gave for not offering coverage was cost.

The Small Business Health Fairness Act (H.R. 1774) can assist in providing access to affordable health coverage for micro-businesses and the self-employed by creating Association Health Plans (AHPs). The NASE is asking you to contact your Members of Congress regarding this legislation by utilizing the NASE Legislative Action Center at http://advocacy.nase.org.

---On average, a worker in a firm with less than 10 employees pays 18% more for health insurance than a worker in a firm with 200 or more employees. Disturbingly, health insurance premiums for small businesses are again increasing at double-digit rates, while at the same time benefits and health plan choices are decreasing. AHPs can help remedy the severe lack of access to affordable health insurance for micro-businesses.

---AHPs can reduce health insurance costs by 15% - 30% by allowing micro-businesses to join together to obtain the same economies of scale, purchasing clout, and administrative efficiencies now available to employees in large employer and union health plans. New coverage options for the self-employed and micro-business workers will promote greater competition and choice in health insurance markets. Tough new solvency standards protect patients’ rights and ensure benefits are paid.

---Employee enticement and retention within the micro-business community are also an indirect positive effect of Association Health Plans. By making health coverage affordable to small employers, AHPs will assist micro-businesses in competing with larger employers with extensive benefit packages in acquiring and retaining qualified employees.

Contact Your Members of Congress today utilizing the NASE’s Legislative Action Center.

Support for the Small Business Health Fairness Act (H.R. 1774), is a show of support for micro-business access to affordable health care!
 

NASE Members Stand to Prosper with Bush Small Business Agenda

The NASE has been diligently advocating tax relief and regulatory reform for micro-business and the self-employed. These legislative priorities are now receiving the attention they deserve because they are also important points of the Bush Small Business Agenda.

Recognizing the important role of the self-employed and small business owners on our nations’ economy, President George Bush recently released his small business agenda. The intentions of the agenda are to stimulate the current sluggish economy and create new jobs.

President Bush said, “Americans have got to understand that everybody in our country has a stake in the success of small businesses, starting with the fact that small businesses create two-thirds of the new jobs created in America on any given year. It's really important for people to understand, as we're fighting a recession, if small businesses create two-thirds of the new jobs, it makes sense that any economic recovery strategy focus on small business.”

Some chief components of the agenda include:

• New tax incentives, such as increasing business expensing and tax simplification, to assist the self-employed and micro-businesses in growing and re-investing in their business.

• Affordable health-care for the self-employed, micro-businesses and uninsured employees through Association Health Plans (AHPs) and improved Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs).

• A Stronger Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy to assist in minimizing burdensome regulations that affect the micro-business community.

• Unbundling of government contracts to give small businesses a fair and open playing field in regards to procurement.

President Bush instructed the OMB director to report on ways to make the bidding process more accessible for small businesses. He urged micro-business owners to send their comments to the OMB. You can do so at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg.

The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) will be working closely with the Bush Administration and other small business organizations to implement this agenda.

For more detailed information on President Bush’s Small Business Agenda, please go to the White House website at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/smallbusiness/
 

NASE Scores Victory with Passage of Stimulus Bill

The NASE is committed to driving the growth of the micro-business segment of the American economy. To that end, the NASE advocated strongly for several key provisions of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002. President Bush recently signed the act into law.

“We are pleased that President Bush has signed this stimulus bill into law. This law along with the President’s Small Business Agenda is a comprehensive approach to assisting the micro-business and self-employed community in our nation,” remarked Robert Hughes, NASE President.

Key provisions of the law include:

• Unemployment Benefits: Extends the 26-week cutoff for unemployment benefits by 13 weeks with a trigger to extend the benefit further in states where the jobless rate exceeds 4 percent.

• Tax Cuts: Allows an additional 30-percent depreciation for business equipment purchases and leasehold improvements made after September 10, 2001, but before September 11, 2004.

“This new law will provide tax incentives for companies to expand and create jobs by investing in plant and equipment. This measure will mean more job opportunities for workers in every part of our country, especially in manufacturing and in high tech and for those who work for small businesses,” President Bush stated.
 

For more information, please contact Kristie L. Darien, NASE Director of Government Affairs, at 202-466-2100 or kdarien@nase.org.