mr. speaker , i rise in opposition to h.r. 525 , the small business health fairness act , but in strong support of meaningful measures to help small businesses offer affordable , quality health care coverage to their employees . 
for many businesses in my congressional district and across the country , the rising cost of health insurance is a growing crisis . 
currently , many small businesses devote significant resources to offer health insurance to their employees -- money they could have otherwise invested in their businesses . 
others have had to reduce or drop coverage entirely . 
while i agree that we must find a solution to this problem , h.r. 525 is not the answer , for several reasons . 
first , supporters of h.r. 525 claim the legislation would reduce the number of uninsured . 
however , a recent urban institute survey states that the number would actually increase , because some small employers in the state-regulated market would be forced to drop coverage when premiums increase as a result of the creation of association health plans , ahps . 
second , ahps would be exempt from state rules that limit how much and how often premiums can be increased , making it likely that premiums would go up rather than down . 
in fact , the congressional budget office estimates that ahp legislation would result in higher premiums for 80 percent of small employers , and as many as 100 , 000 sick people would lose coverage because they would not be able to afford the increases . 
finally , ahps would mean that consumers would lose important health benefits , such as treatment and care for diabetes , child immunizations , cancer screenings , and preventive care . 
consumers would lose state-based patient protections such as direct access to specialty care , emergency care , and the right to an independent , external review of denied medical claims . 
instead of this flawed bill , i support the substitute offered by representatives kind and andrews . 
this legislation would expand the health care options available for small businesses by building on the efforts of many state governments that are providing health care plans specifically for small businesses . 
under the substitute , federal and state health insurance pools would be created for small businesses to band together to purchase coverage . 
participating businesses would be able to defray the costs of their participation through a 4-year tax credit provided under the legislation . 
by grouping small companies in healthcare pools , this bill would give small firms some of the same advantages large corporations have in trying to keep costs down . 
mr. speaker , i urge my colleagues to oppose the small business health fairness act , and instead support real relief for small businesses trying to meet the health care needs of their employees by voting for the kind-andrews substitute . 
