Despite the victory small business achieved with passage of the Quality Care for the Uninsured Act, the threat of so-called Patient's Bill of Rights Legislation to small business, which is up for action in the House today, would have the opposite effect: increasing costs and closing off access to health insurance.

Dan Danner, NFIB's vice president of Federal Public Policy, says H.R. 2373, sponsored by Reps. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., and John Dingell, D-Mich., would hike health insurance premiums and drive more Americans into the ranks of the uninsured.

Cost is by far the number one threat to existing health coverage and the greatest barrier to improved coverage, says Danner. The Dingell/Norwood plan utterly fails to address costs.

We're asking members of Congress to stay true to the uninsured and not diminish the meaning of the victory by passing the Norwood-Dingell managed-care reform bill, says Dan Danner, NFIB's vice president for Federal Public Policy. The legislation would have the opposite effect, adding hundreds of thousands more to the ranks of the uninsured by increasing costs and opening employers up to lawsuits.

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