Supporter of HR 67 urges association health plans to lower small-business costs
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Summary
An unidentified speaker supported HR 67, the Association Health Plans Act, arguing the Affordable Care Act raised costs for small businesses and saying association plans could expand coverage; the transcript records no vote or opposing speakers.
An unidentified speaker addressed the chamber in support of HR 67, the Association Health Plans Act, saying the measure would let small businesses and self-employed Americans band together to lower health-insurance costs.
The speaker argued that the Affordable Care Act has increased premiums and regulatory burdens on small employers, leading some to reduce or stop offering coverage. In the transcript the speaker repeatedly referred to the law as the "unaffordable care act"; the article uses the corrected statutory name, Affordable Care Act, when referring to the federal law itself.
The speaker described the Association Health Plans Act as allowing small employers to pool together "like large companies to lower costs and deliver high quality coverage," and said the bill could extend coverage. He cited a report he identified in the remarks (transcript label: "CPO") that he said "estimates that this could cover more than 200,000 previously uninsured Americans and attract 700,000 people annually to association health plans." Those figures are presented here as estimates the speaker attributed to that report; the transcript does not independently verify them.
The speaker also referenced the Self Insurance Protection Act, authored in the remarks by Representative Bob Onder, saying it "shields small businesses from regulatory overreach while expanding affordable health care options." The two measures were presented as complementary parts of what the speaker called a package to "cut red tape, protect choice, and lower costs."
No other speakers, formal motions, votes, or procedural actions appear in the transcript provided. The remarks in the transcript are a floor statement in support of HR 67 and related bills; the record does not show committee debate, a vote, or responses from other members.
The statement closed with a direct appeal to members across the aisle to join in a bipartisan fix of what the speaker described as a broken health-care system. The transcript does not record further steps, scheduling, or any formal legislative action on HR 67 within these remarks.