Political Quotes

“Back home we say you can take a pig, put lipstick on it, smell it and call it Monique, but it is still a pig. AHPs, association health plans, contained in this bill are just another iteration of what has been tried in the past and failed in the past to the disadvantage of small employers and their employees: multiple employer trusts in the early 1980s, giving way to multiple employer welfare arrangements in the late 1980s. What these were were efforts to have unregulated insurance pools across small employers managed by associations. The net result, no regulation, no adequate oversight in terms of capitalization of these programs; and while the premiums were cheap, when the claims came in, the companies were not there. It is not just a matter of having a policy for purposes of having access to coverage. You want to make sure you actually have a solvent entity to pay the claim when you send in the bill. That is the problem about deregulating these association health plans. We have learned this lesson once. We have learned this lesson twice. Why, oh why, oh why on a bill that we are trying to increase consumer protections would the majority ask us to learn it yet a third time to the disadvantage again of small employers and the people covered in those programs?”