Every day, millions of Americans go without health insurance. The majority of these individuals are small business employees and the self-employed. Without insurance, their lives and the lives of their families are at risk. Not only do they miss out on essential preventive health care, they could spend a lifetime in financial crisis, stuck with bills for emergency care or other long-term treatments.

In response to this problem, I have worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to introduce the Small Business Health Options Program Act of 2008, known as SHOP. It has broad support of groups across the political spectrum, including the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the National Association of Realtors, and the Service Employees International Union.

This legislation will help our small businesses – the backbone of our communities – offer health insurance to their employees, which boosts recruitment, retention, employee performance, and the overall success of the business. Most importantly, the bill will allow us to begin to address the needs of the millions of working uninsured Americans whose top priority is access to quality and affordable health care for their families.

April 27-May 3 is National Cover the Uninsured Week – a great time for all of us to begin looking for reasonable solutions to the small business health care crisis. Together, we can help working men and women across the nation sleep a little easier knowing their health care needs are covered.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 11:28 am and is filed under Politics, Labor .