Durbin talks health insurance with business owners

Business owners Heather Hills (left) and her husband James of Elgin listen Monday as U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (right) explains his bipartisan legislation, known as the Small Business Health Options Program bill. (H. Rick Bamman photo)

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ELGIN – For the last three years, James and Heather Hills have worked to build a business that helps small and mid-sized businesses sell products on the Internet.

But at the same time, like most other small business owners, the Hills, owners of MarketingHelpNet.com in downtown Elgin, also have spent a lot of time worrying about health insurance – the cost of which ranks as the business’s second-largest monthly bill.

“It’s important to us to have it, because you never know what could happen to us healthwise,” Heather said. “But at the same time, it’s scary, because it’s so expensive and you never know what’s going to happen to the rates.”

Monday, the Hills were among several small- and mid-sized business owners that gathered at Judson University in Elgin to discuss the topic of health insurance coverage with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Durbin, the Senate’s assistant majority leader, came to Elgin to publicly discuss new legislation he is introducing that is intended to make health insurance coverage more affordable and more accessible for small-business owners and the self-employed.

The legislation, known as the Small Business Health Options Program, would essentially create health insurance pools that would be modeled after the insurance pools that federal government workers enjoy.

Initially, the legislation would create those pools on a statewide, state-by-state basis.

Should all 50 states not create such insurance pools, the legislation would then lead to the creation of a nationwide insurance pool.

The pools would be open to businesses employing 50 or fewer workers and the self-employed, Durbin said.

He said the plan is not intended to create a national government-run health care system.

Rather, it would utilize the market, allowing health insurance providers to compete for the business of the businesses participating in the pool.

That competition would then work to reduce the price of health insurance and improve benefits, Durbin said.

Insurance companies would be prohibited from discriminating based on pre-existing medical conditions.

They would, however, be allowed to assess rates differently for different demographic groups, as the legislation would permit insurance providers to charge older, less healthy individuals up to three times more than rates charged to younger, healthier policyholders.

Businesses and self-employed individuals participating in the plan would be offered tax credits as incentives, Durbin said.

The legislation has already earned the support of lobby groups for both small businesses, including the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the National Association of Realtors, and labor unions, including the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO, Durbin said.

The legislation has also earned bipartisan support in the Senate so far, Durbin said.

However, he said, the bill is not likely to be taken up in earnest until after the November elections.