• Senate Committee Holds SBA Reauthorization Hearing
• Studies Highlight Health Care Crisis for Uninsured
• State Focus: Massachusetts Procurement and Business Expo
• Member Poll: Cover the Uninsured

Senate Committee Holds SBA Reauthorization Hearing

Olympia Snowe The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a hearing last week to discuss the three-year reauthorization of the Small Business Administration’s financing and entrepreneurial development programs. Outgoing Small Business Administration (SBA) head Hector Barreto made his final appearance before the Committee. Committee Chair Senator Olympia Snowe (R- Maine) said, “You have served the President and our nation well in leading this vital agency.” While the hearing included discussion of some minor changes within the structure of the SBA, the main focus was on bills sponsored by Snowe. The first, the Small Business Lending Improvement Act, S.1803, offers reforms to the Preferred Lenders Program to remedy several inefficiencies and bureaucratic complications. Snowe proposes setting up a national preferred lenders list, which would allow those lending to do so in any state with one application. Barreto testified in favor of this proposal saying, “This provision will relieve our lending partners, who often operate in several states, of the burden of duplicative applications and approvals.” Another proposal discussed, the Local Development Business Loan Program Act, would attempt to improve the 504 program by making the lending process more standardized and efficient. “The statutory purpose of the 504 loan program is to create new jobs and strengthen the local impact of the loan program,” said Snowe. At the hearing, Snowe also strongly urged the SBA not to eliminate their Microloan Program, which currently assists micro-business owners by fronting up to $35,000 and technical assistance to new and growing small businesses. The NASE conducted an online member poll last year and found that 61 percent of micro-business owners believe programs offered by the federal government are valuable and helpful. The NASE continues to monitor proposed changes to the SBA. To read the hearing testimony in its entirety, visit http://sbc.senate.gov/. Studies Highlight Health Care Crisis for Uninsured Two recent studies point to the plight of uninsured people in this country. First, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, two of five (41 percent) working-age Americans with annual incomes between $20,000 and $40,000 were uninsured for at least part of the past year—a “dramatic and rapid increase” from 2001 when just over a quarter of those with moderate incomes were uninsured. The study reconfirmed that lower-income adults are still the most likely to be uninsured and that the vast majority of the uninsured are in working families. Of the estimated 48 million working-age Americans uninsured during the year, 67 percent were in families where at least one person was working full time. Additionally, one in five adults, both insured and uninsured, has medical debt. Of those with bills or debt, nearly two-thirds said they were insured at the time. Another study by the Center for Studying Health System Change found that 26 percent of uninsured adults in 2003 did not purchase at least one prescription due to cost as compared with 9 percent of those with employer coverage. Thus, many low-income and uninsured people under age 65 rely on community safety nets to get needed medications, safety nets that are getting stretched further and further, according to the findings. Cover the Uninsured Week events are going on all over the country this week to emphasize the need for all Americans to get health coverage. These include press conferences, health and enrollment fairs, seminars for small businesses, campus activities, business leader summits and interfaith activities. The NASE will launch an initiative with the goal of educating and assisting micro-business owners with finding affordable health insurance next week. “The NASE seeks to help individuals find affordable health insurance within the current health care system,” said NASE executive director of the legislative office Kristie Darien . “While changes need to be made to the system, everyone needs access to health coverage now.” Visit www.covertheuninsured.org for more information and updates on events in your area throughout the week. For more information on the NASE’s Your Health, Your Choice health care initiative launch, contact Katy Dyer at kdyer@nase.org. State Focus: Massachusetts Procurement and Business Expo Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) and the Merrimack Chamber of Commerce will host the first annual Massachusetts Procurement and Business Expo in Lawrence, Mass., on Monday, May 22, 2006. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sal’s Riverwalk (354 Merrimack Street, Lawrence, Mass.). The event will provide information on loan opportunities for small businesses as well as government contracting information. The exhibitors will include small business and contracting officials from federal, state and local government procurement offices. Register at www.kerry.senate.gov or contact Setti Warren at (617) 565-6653. Member Poll: Cover the Uninsured The NASE joins a diverse group of national organizations in support of this year’s Cover the Uninsured Week, May 1-8th. Currently, 46 million Americans have no health insurance, with 60 percent of uninsured Americans representing owners, employees or dependents of those working in small business. Let the NASE know your opinions on this issue by visiting the MyNASE Web site at http://my.NASE.org/. Log in to your free MyNASE Web account. If you have not set up an account, you can do so at http://my.NASE.org/ with your member number.