WEVA Joins Fight for Affordable Health Care
June 11, 2006
Sarasota, FL - The Wedding & Event Videographers Association International (WEVA) has joined the Coalition Supporting Access & Choice Through Small Business Health Plans in its fight for more affordable and accessible health insurance through the creation of Small Business Health Plans (SBHPs).
The SBHP Coalition is comprised of organizations representing some 12 million small business owners and 80 million workers. With small businesses continuing to struggle with the cost and availability of health care, WEVA and other national associations are working in support of bipartisan legislation allowing the enactment of SBHPs.
“Federal legislation allowing creation of SBHPs would permit small business owners to join together across state boundaries to purchase health insurance as a group," said Dan Argenas, WEVA’s Director of Association Communications. "For our members and so many other small business owners, it represents an affordable solution to the spiraling costs of health care in our nation. We join the SBHP Coalition in urging our lawmakers to pass legislation that would make the creation of SBHPs possible.”
The SBHP Coalition recognizes that today, 23 million people working for businesses having fewer than 100 employees are currently without health insurance. SBHPs will make it possible for participating small businesses to command the same buying power as Fortune 500 companies and unions by allowing them to band together to negotiate for lower rates and better benefits. SBHPs, combined with much needed competition for the small group market, will enable more affordable choices for small business owners and their employees.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed small business health plan legislation. Last month, in the U.S. Senate, “The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2006” garnered a 55-vote majority but not the 60 votes necessary to proceed under Senate rules.
After the vote, Todd Stottlemyer, President and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s largest small business group said, “It’s incredibly disheartening that a minority of U.S. Senators, many of whom make great show of their support for small businesses, used Senate rules to block a final vote on legislation, favored by a clear majority, to provide more affordable health care options for small business owners, their employees and their families.”
After coming so close to getting the bill passed in the Senate, the SBHP Coalition is continuing its efforts to get Small Business Health Plans legislation enacted into law. “Is it fair that small business owners can’t join together across state lines to negotiate lower rates with the major insurance companies? No. Big Business can, and so can Big Labor,” said WEVA International Chairman Roy Chapman.
"But laws enacted ages ago prevent small business owners from doing the same. We're in the Internet age today and it's time we had new laws. It’s time our members and small business owners across the country are granted the ability to negotiate the same kind of group discounts that Big Business and labor unions negotiate routinely and take for granted. It’s time for new legislation that will finally level the playing field.”
About WEVA International
The Wedding & Event Videographers Association International (WEVA) is the world's largest trade association for professional wedding & event videographers, and our industry's leading provider of education that's on the cutting-edge. WEVA is dedicated to advancing the professional interests of videographers worldwide through continuing education, technical support, group benefits, advocacy committees, and professional development training.
For more information about WEVA membership benefits and industry events, including WEVA EXPO 2006 August 21-24, 2006 at spectacular Mandalay Bay contact the association at 941-923-5334 or email: [email protected] |
