Presidential Weekly Address: Health Reform Urgent for the Economy

Key Thoughts:
-Small Businesses are paying up to 18% more for the very same insurance plans as larger businesses because they have higher administrative costs and less bargaining power.

-Many have been forced to cut benefits or drop coverage. Some have shed jobs or shut their doors entirely.

-Recent studies show that if we fail to act now, employers will pay 6% more to insure their employees next year & more than twice as much over the next decade.

-Under these proposals, 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.

-Small businesses won’t be required to cover their employees, but many that do will receive a tax credit to help them pay for it. If a small business chooses not to provide coverage, its employees will receive tax credits to help them purchase health insurance on their own through the insurance exchange.