As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, I am committed to providing affordable health care access for small businesses. These businesses are the heart and soul of our economy. However, I frequently hear from small business owners across the state that one of their biggest concerns in running their business is trying to provide affordable health insurance to their employees. While the vast majority of large businesses in Kansas provide health care for their employees, less than half of our small businesses can even offer health insurance because of the high cost. This is unacceptable. We should not be forcing these businesses to choose between staying in business and offering health insurance to their employees. Instead, we should give these businesses the same opportunities for affordable health care as our large businesses have long enjoyed.
Health insurance premiums have skyrocketed over the past decade. Some of the reasons for these increases include the rising cost of health care, the aging of our population, and the availability of new life-saving technology. One of my fundamental principles for health care reform is that any reform should lower the costs of health insurance and health care for American families.
In 2010, Congress approved and the President signed into law two bills, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (P.L. 111-152). Together, these bills comprise the new health care reform law. Unfortunately, many independent economists including the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office have said that the new insurance mandates in the health care reform law will not reduce costs, and may actually make the situation worse for many Americans. We are now seeing that prediction proven correct as employers are forced to raise premiums, seek waivers, or drop health insurance altogether. Moving forward, I will fight to repeal and replace this law with the real reforms that Kansans want.
