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please click your print icon! NAIC Testifies On Small Business Health Insurance Options WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 25, 2007) — Speaking today on behalf of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Pennsylvania Acting Insurance Commissioner Joe Ario testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance regarding strategies aimed at expanding health insurance coverage for small businesses. Commissioner Ario emphasized the importance of cost-containment strategies when addressing the issue of helping small businesses provide health insurance coverage to their employees. “Health insurance reform will not solve [the problem of increasing health care costs] since insurance is primarily a method of financing health care costs,” Ario testified. “Nevertheless, insurers do have a vital role to play in reforms such as disease management, enhanced use of information technology, improved quality of care, wellness programs and prevention, and evidence-based medicine — all of which have shown promise in limiting the growth of health care spending. Whatever is done in insurance reform should be done in a manner that is consistent with sound cost control practices.” Commissioner Ario also discussed several approaches to helping small businesses provide coverage to their employees, including multi-state pooling proposals, expanding the small group health insurance market to include individuals and the self-employed, and the use of standard benefit packages. In each of these areas, he stressed the need for cooperation between state and federal policymakers. “States cannot solve the health care crisis alone,” he said. “But neither can the federal government go it alone. In this context, the Congress should support efforts like S. 325, the Health Partnership Act, that provide funding for state initiatives and establish procedures for waiving federal requirements, such as certain ERISA provisions, that impede state innovation. Even more important is to carefully consider the impact of any new federal reforms on the states’ ability to be effective partners in solving our health care crisis.” Click HERE to view the full text of Ario’s testimony. About the NAIC Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is a voluntary organization of the chief insurance regulatory officials of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories. The NAIC’s overriding objective is to assist state insurance regulators in protecting consumers and helping maintain the financial stability of the insurance industry by offering financial, actuarial, legal, computer, research, market conduct and economic expertise. Formed in 1871, the NAIC is the oldest association of state officials. For more than 135 years, state-based insurance supervision has served the needs of consumers, industry and the business of insurance at-large by ensuring hands-on, frontline protection for consumers, while providing insurers the uniform platforms and coordinated systems they need to compete effectively in an ever-changing marketplace. For more information, visit NAIC on the Web at: http://www.naic.org/press_home.htm. Contacts Communications Division (816) 783-8909 news@naic.org Scott Holeman Communications Director Jeremy Wilkinson Electronic Communications Manager Heidi Robertson Communications Specialist Vanessa Sink Communications Specialist Evan Kuhlmann Communications Intern
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