Small Business Health Plans Return
Apr 7th, 2008 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Politics & PolicySmall Business Health Plans (SBHPs), the most recent incarnation of the association health plans that were supposed to allow small businesses to join pooling arrangements and purchase health insurance across state lines through trade and industry membership organizations, are back. Last week, Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) introduced his SBHP bill in the Senate, with co-sponsors Bill Nelson (D-NE) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) to back him up. There’s nothing drastically new in this bill, when compared to the previous version. The real question is whether Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who chairs the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will give this bill the time of day. He has previously made gracious noises about his willingness to engage with his esteemed colleague to address the issue but those conversations, if they’ve happened, have taken place in private. There’s a pretty good chance that we’re back to square one and SBHPS could spend another decade in a Committee pending tray.
