FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Isakson Praises Legislation for Addressing Health Insurance Woes of Small Businesses
Urges Senate Passage So That Millions of Americans Will Gain Access to Affordable Health Insurance

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today on the Senate floor praised legislation that would help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to employees.

“I defy you to be a 45-year-old working carpenter with a wife and two kids out in the marketplace right now trying to buy health insurance,” Isakson said on the Senate floor. “Can you buy it? Sure, if you want to pay $2,000 or 2,500 a month – a price you can’t afford to pay and also put food on the table.”  

“This bill gives people who do not have any insurance at all the chance to get good, solid, basic health care. We’re providing opportunity to folks that have no opportunity,” Isakson said. “This bill ensures that the customer always has the choice of buying the product and the coverage they want and can afford.”

Isakson said he knows firsthand how difficult it is for small businesses to provide health insurance to their employees because he faced the same challenge when he ran a small business, Northside Realty in Atlanta, for more than 20 years. Today, more than 45 million Americans lack health insurance, and 62 percent of those uninsured are either employed by a small business or dependent on someone who is.

The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act, S.1955, will allow business and trade associations to bring their members together and offer group health coverage on a national or regional basis.

###