Watson Coleman: “of the 27 million working uninsured, 63 percent are working in firms with fewer than 100 employees. It is crucial that…”

“of the 27 million working uninsured, 63 percent are working in firms with fewer than 100 employees. It is crucial that we develop a comprehensive plan to remedy the problem of the working uninsured. For this reason I support legislation that would allow for the creation of association health plans, which would allow small businesses to band together to purchase health insurance for their employees. Because of the current structure of the health care industry, too many small business owners and their employees do not have access to affordable health insurance. When I talk to small business owners as I travel the State, I have found that most of them want to provide this benefit because it not only helps provide the uninsured with coverage but it also helps small businesses retain good employees. A recent Census Bureau report says slightly more than 45 million Americans now lack health coverage. While Minnesota is out front in tackling the issue of the uninsured, with uninsured in my State at about 7 percent, I still believe that providing affordable access to health care is a critically important national interest, that there are no silver bullet solutions, and so we need as many tools to fix this problem as possible. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, employer- based health insurance has decreased markedly from covering 66 percent of the non-elderly in 2000 to 62 percent by 2003.…”