• U.S. Census Bureau Reports an Increase in the Uninsured

  • Legislative Action Alert: Access to Affordable Health Care

• SBA Report Shows Small Businesses Overlooked on Government Contracts

• President Bush Nominates Mark McClellan to Head of FDA

• Malpractice Bill Passes House

U.S. Census Bureau Reports an Increase in the Uninsured

According to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week, the number of Americans without health insurance climbed by 1.4 million from 2000 to 2001. A decline in job-based health insurance coverage is cited as a major reason for this trend. The NASE reported similar findings in a health care survey released this past summer.

The Census Bureau says that the drop-off in employer health coverage from 2000 to 2001 occurred in the small-business sector. Compared to 2000, the number of people who had employment-based policies in their own names fell for workers employed by firms with fewer than 25 employees, but was unchanged for those employed by larger firms.

As health care costs continue to increase, small businesses are the most affected. While big businesses can adapt by imposing cost sharing, small employers often find themselves priced out of the market. In light of these new figures, the NASE strongly urges Congress to take immediate action on legislation that would make health coverage more affordable for the micro-business and self-employed community. Two pieces of legislation currently under consideration are the Small Business Health Fairness Act (H.R. 1774/ S.858), which would create association health plans (AHPs) and the Secure Access Value and Equality (SAVE) to Health Care Act (H.R. 4604), which would provide each individual tax payer with a pre-payable, fully refundable tax credit toward the purchase of health insurance.


Legislative Alert!

Contact Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and urge him to hold a hearing on the important issue of micro-business access to affordable health care, especially in light of these new Census statistics! Visit the NASE Legislative Action Center and send Chairman Kerry a letter today.
 

SBA Report Shows Small Businesses Overlooked on Government Contracts

The U.S. Small Business Administration has released a new report that shows that America’s small businesses are not being awarded enough government bundled contracts. While the number and size of bundled contracts issued by federal agencies has reached a 10-year high, small businesses received only 16.7 percent of bundled federal contract dollars in fiscal year 2001, and 20 percent of all federal prime contract dollars.

The report, The Impact of Contract Bundling on Small Business, states that, “the number and size of bundled contracts issued by federal agencies has reached record levels, and small businesses are receiving disproportionately small shares of the work on bundled contracts.”

Contract bundling is largely driven by accretion, or the piling on of dissimilar tasks, to existing contracts. In fiscal year 2001, both the number of bundled contracts and the amount of bundled contract dollars were the highest in 10 years.

The report goes on to state that for every increase in 100 bundled contracts, there is a decrease of 60 contracts to small business. For every additional $100 awarded on bundled contracts, there is a decrease of $12 in contracts to small business. At $109 billion in fiscal year 2001, bundled contracts cost small business $13 billion annually.

Also last week, the SBA announced a series of small business – federal contracting officers “matchmaking” events around the country. The events are intended to increase contracting opportunities with federal agencies and private industry firms, while offering business training and financing support. Cosponsored jointly by the SBA and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the national Procurement Matchmaking Initiative begins Oct. 9 in Cleveland, Ohio, and will continue to 9 other cities during the next year.

To learn the dates for future Matchmaking events, and to register for upcoming events, visit the SBA’s Web site at www.sba.gov/gc/.

 

President Bush Nominates Mark McClellan to Head of FDA

President George W. Bush has nominated Mark B. McClellan to be Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). McClellan is currently a member of the President's Council on Economic Advisors, and he also serves as a senior policy director for health care and related economic issues for the White House.

He has been the Administration’s foremost advocate of AHPs and health care tax credits, which were included in Bush’s small business agenda earlier this year.

“As a doctor and researcher, Mark McClellan is uniquely qualified to serve as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration,” said President Bush. “As head of the FDA, Mark will focus on empowering consumers and ensuring rapid access to products that are safe and effective," said President Bush.

The post has been vacant since Bush took office in January 2001, as the Bush administration, drug industry and Senate Democrats sparred over who will head the agency. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), whose committee approves the nominee, had demanded that Bush choose someone who has never worked for the drug, medical devices, food or cosmetics industries, which are all regulated by the FDA. McClellan, a physician, has not.

Kennedy said in a statement that McClellan has “impressive credentials. ... I look forward to hearing his views on the FDA.”

McClellan is a former professor of economics and medicine at Stanford University and served in the Clinton administration as a deputy assistant Treasury secretary for economic policy.

For more of McClellan's credentials, click here.

 

Malpractice Bill Passes House

After passing the House Judiciary and Energy and Commerce Committees earlier this month, the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2002 (H.R. 4600) was approved by the House of Representatives last week. The bill would limit damage awards and trial lawyers’ fees in medical malpractice lawsuits, but would not pre-empt state patients´ rights laws that set higher liability caps.

President Bush and numerous legislators have been actively advocating on behalf of this bill, asserting that unwarranted lawsuits and large malpractice awards are substantially increasing health insurance premiums which are risen to cover costs of malpractice insurance.

The HEALTH Act, sponsored by Rep. James Greenwood (R-PA), would limit punitive damages to twice the economic damages or $250,000, whichever is greater, in malpractice suits. It would also limit trial lawyers’ contingency fees to 40 percent of the first $50,000 in damages, 33 1/3 percent of the next $50,000, 25 percent of the next $500,000, and 15 percent of any amount in excess of $600,000.

Senator John Ensign (R-NV) has introduced an identical bill (S. 2793), but it is not expected to be debated. On July 30, the Senate rejected a less-sweeping plan to limit malpractice awards when it voted 57-42 to table an amendment by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), during debate on drug-pricing legislation.
 

Do any of these issues affect you? Do you want to be proactive in helping the micro-business community? Visit the NASE's Legislative Action Center and “Tell Your Small Business Story.” This will help the NASE understand - on a personal level - how key legislative issues are affecting your business and your bottom line.

For more information about any of the articles in Washington Watch, contact Maureen Petron, NASE public affairs manager, at (202) 466-2100 or mpetron@nase.org.