Joseph Knollenberg: “Throughout the country, small business owners face a problem, because they cannot afford to offer their employees health…”

“Throughout the country, small business owners face a problem, because they cannot afford to offer their employees health insurance. The Small Business Health Fairness Act, H.R. 4281, which we are going to debate this week, helps to resolve health care benefit concerns for small businesses and their employees. Through Association Health Plans, small businesses will have the ability to secure affordable health care contracts. Uninsured employees will receive the security of affordable health insurance. Here is something that I think is significant: Out of the 44 million uninsured Americans, so called, about 25 million of them are people in small businesses, either the dependents or the employees themselves. The price of health care benefits has risen by 12 percent this year alone. Escalating health care premiums makes it nearly impossible for small business owners to afford to offer health care benefits to their employees. H.R. 4281 will make health insurance a reality for small businesses. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.”