May 13, 2009
Contact: Mike Donohue (202) 331-5902, Maureen Ryan (202) 331-5939

(Washington, DC) – The National Restaurant Association today welcomed the congressional reintroduction of the SHOP Act, hailing the bipartisan legislation as a model for progress on providing more affordable health-care options for small businesses. The Association praised the efforts of the bill's sponsors, including U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), and U.S. Reps. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Bill Young (R-Fla.). The bill, the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Act, aims to make health insurance more affordable and accessible for small businesses and the self-employed.

“Access to affordable health-care coverage is one of our members' top concerns. The National Restaurant Association commends the leadership that made the SHOP Act possible and sees this bipartisan effort as a model for action on health care,” said Beth Johnson, the Association’s executive vice president of public affairs. “We applaud Senators Durbin, Snowe and Lincoln, and Representatives Kind, Gerlach, Barrow and Young for their commitment to providing restaurants and other small businesses access to affordable health-care options. We are encouraged that the SHOP Act will provide relief for restaurants, alleviating the volatility of insurance premiums for small businesses and making coverage more affordable for owners and their employees.”

The SHOP Act, which was introduced in the Senate last week and the House today, would:

• Allow small businesses and the self employed to band together in a statewide or nationwide pool to obtain lower health insurance prices by spreading their risk over a larger number of participants.
• Keep prices low by offering a range of private health plans that have to compete for business.
• Provide small-business owners with an annual tax credit of up to $1,000 per employee ($2,000 for family coverage) if they pay for 60 percent of their employees’ premiums, and a bonus tax credit if they pay for more than 60 percent of the premiums. Self-employed individuals would get an $1,800 annual tax credit ($3,600 for family coverage) to purchase health insurance.
• Cut down on administrative costs for small businesses - today, small businesses spend almost 25 percent of health insurance premiums on administrative costs, compared to 10 percent for large employers.
• Ban the practice of rating insurance based on health status and claims experience so that premium increases will be more stable and predictable.