mr. speaker , today there is a point of agreements and a strong point of disagreement . 
there is a point of agreement that health care costs are rising too fast for too many people . 
there is a point of agreement that the consequences of that price increase is a tremendous burden on small business and a high likelihood that more people will be uninsured . 
i do not think there is a member of this body that does not favor finding an intelligent and effective way to reduce health care costs for small business so they can continue to insure the people they do insure and expand and insure more people in the future . 
where we disagree is over whether this underlying bill is the right way to do it , and we emphatically believe that it is not . 
there are four reasons to oppose this bill . 
the first is that there is a better idea . 
there is a better way to solve this problem , and the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. kind ) xz4002180 will address that issue when our substitute is brought to the floor in a little while . 
the second reason is that this bill will not result in a reduction of the number of uninsured . 
to the contrary , it will result in an increase in the number of uninsured people , and here is how . 
it is estimated by the experts in this field that 8 million people will be shifted from conventional health care policies and plans to association health plans . 
these 8 million people will , in fact , probably have a lower premium than they do right now for a little while . 
but when those 8 million people are shifted out of conventional health care plans and they will tend to be younger and healthier people , the people remaining in the conventional health care plans will have to bear more of the costs , and premiums will go up by an estimate of 23 percent . 
when the premiums go up on the rest of those in the pool , fewer of them will be insured . 
the experts estimate that while 8 million people will be shifted from regular plans to ahps , 9 million people approximately will lose their coverage altogether , and the results will be a net loss in the number of insured of 1 million people . 
so supporting this bill will increase the number of uninsured , not decrease it ; and it will increase premiums by 23 percent . 
the second reason to oppose this bill is that it fails to provide the protection to patients , providers and consumers that good insurance regulation provides . 
there are simply no effective regulations that will keep an insurance company from going bankrupt and being unable to meet its obligations to its policy holders and pay its claims . 
we have seen this happen before in multiemployer welfare associations . 
we will be submitting at the appropriate time a list for the record of mewas that have failed . 
this is the reason that the national governors association , that attorneys general , that commissioners of insurance both republican and democrat oppose this bill because the regulation that would protect patients and providers and consumers is not there . 
the third reason that we should oppose this bill , the final reason , is that the coverage that people have fought for over the years , so that women have a minimum stay in the hospital after they have a c section , so that women have the right to an annual mammogram , so that people with diabetes have the right to insulin or diabetic care , so that people struggling with mental health problems or with substance abuse have the right to have those services covered , those protections which have been supported by republicans and democrats in state legislatures around this country are effectively repealed by the underlying bill , a judgment being made in washington that contravenes the good judgment of republicans and democrats around the country . 
this bill should be opposed . 
there is a better way that the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. kind ) xz4002180 will be putting forward with my assistance . 
this is a bill that will increase the number of uninsured and increase health insurance premiums for small businesses . 
this is a bill that will leave patients and providers and consumers unprotected if and when insurance companies go bankrupt . 
finally , this is a bill that effectively repeals protections for breast cancer screening , colon cancer screening , diabetes care , substance abuse care , and mental health care . 
it is a bill that should be defeated . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
