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Federal Document Clearing House
Congressional Testimony
February 16, 2000
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 2280 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY February 16, 2000 ARLENE KAPLAN CEO & FOUNDER, HEART TO HOME, INC.
HOUSE SMALL BUSINESS EMPLOYER HEALTH INSURANCE
BODY:
TESTIMONY OF ARLENE KAPLAN CEO & FOUNDER,
HEART TO HOME, INC. ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN BUSINESS
OWNERS BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS ON ASSOCIATION
HEALTH PLANS FEBRUARY 16,2000 Good morning Mr. Chairman and
members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you
today to discuss Association Health Plans and their importance
to women-owned businesses. My name is Arlene Kaplan and I have been in the
health care field for over 40 years. I was once a laboratory
technologist, working in some of New York's finest hospitals. Then for almost 20
years I worked with 1199 the Hospital Workers Union in New York as an Organizer
and Vice President. In 1984 I opened my first business called Heart to Home,
Inc. a New York State Licensed Home Care Agency. I also own a New York State
Licensed Adult Home, Heartland on the Bay, Inc. and Workplace CPR, a company
that provides CPR training and First Aid to corporations and the community. In
addition I am a past National Officer of the National Association of Women
business owners and have been a member since 1985. My principal focus for NAWBO
has been in the health Care and Health
Insurance reform arena. My remarks today are on behalf of NAWBO. NAWBO is s non-
profit organizations representing the interests of over 9 million women business
owners. NAWBO has over 78 chapters across the United States. While working with
1199 1 was involved in the Union s plans for a National Health
Care Program. As part of my responsibilities I testified in December of 1978
before the Senate Health Sub- Committee regarding a
comprehensive national health plan. I was also very lucky to be
part of the Union s wonderful health and disability plan. We
were self- insured and could and did create our own programs. As a Union that
was predominately female we provided benefits that did not exist in insurance
companies. We provided maternity disability before it became law and we provided
prenatal and delivery benefits regardless of your marital status. We provided
well-baby care long before insurance companies. To the best of my knowledge the
Union's Benefit Plan always exceeded the state mandate of benefits. I touch on
this only to show what can be done when people with a community of interest come
together and design programs that fit their needs. That doesn't mean that NAWBO
would set up an Association Health Plan, but we would certainly
like to explore the possibility. We believe we have needs that could be best
addressed if we were permitted, as the Union was, to design plans that meet
those needs That is what happened with my Union. The Union existed for the
purposes of representing members in collective bargaining and the establishment
of our Benefit Plan was an out-growth of those goals. NAWBO exists for the
purpose of representing the needs of and furthering the goals of women business
owners. To be able to develop an Association Health Plan would
be a step in the furthering those goals. Small businesses are the backbone of
the America Economy. The majority of these businesses do not offer
health care benefits to their employees not because they don t
want to, but cost, access and the ability to remain with a carrier has been a
deterrent. For example, Wanda Goetz, NAWBO member and owner of an information
management consulting service in Florida, cannot afford to give her employees
health insurance because most of them are older, 50 plus, and
the premium cost was $7000.00 per month. As someone who has benefited from the
legislation that allowed my Union to be self-insured, I think that as a woman
business owner I should have the same rights. NAWBO strongly believes
Association Health Plans would benefit our membership. Any plan
that we would design we certainly would want to be superior. We have grown our
businesses by being better and more efficient. And that is how we will treat our
Health Plan. Association Health Plans give
small businesses and the self- employed the freedom to design more affordable
benefits options and offer their workers access to health care
coverage. NAWBO members believe these new coverage options promote greater
competition, lower costs and new choices in health insurance
markets. By allowing individual and small employers to join together, AHP's
promote the same economies of scale and purchasing clout that workers in large
companies currently realize. The Quality Care for the Uninsured
Act, H.R. 2990 includes the language supported by virtuality the entire small
business community to expand Association Health Plans. We must
reach those small business owners without health insurance, and
AHP's are a market oriented private sector solution to a small business problem.
We believe that the language in the Quality Care for the
Uninsured Act will provide the necessary protection. I would
like to share just one more story with you. Christine Bierman, owner of
Colt-Safety in St. Louis, Missouri tells her own story. "I own a small safety,
fire and rescue distribution company in St Louis, Mo. I founded the company in
June of 1980. Through the years we have had up to 25 employees at any given
time. We currently have 15 employees. My mother worked for my company from 1987
till her death in 1994. In 1989 when was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a
mastectomy. The cancer recurred in 1992. We were one of the lucky ones who did
not have to fight their insurance company to cover the controversial bone marrow
transplant. The unfortunate and most unfair situation was that for the next 6
years of my mother's life, our company's insurance rates escalated between 15
and 25 % each year. In about year 31 began questioning our operations manager on
the pricing. I asked her to shop other insurance e companies only to find out we
could go nowhere else due to my mother's pre-existing conditions. The escalating
costs come at a time when we ere also losing market share due to integrated
suppliers and mega-mergers in our industry. This usually when a small company
can show their entrepreneurial skills by cutting costs and moving quicker that
the mega companies. We were forced to cut our 100% employee coverage to 80% and
now only cover 60% of employee benefits." What we see happening if my
association, NAWBO, is permitted to form an Association Health
Plan is that our members in each state will be able to provide for their
employees health care benefits so that all our stories have a
good ending not a sad one.
LOAD-DATE: February 18, 2000
