JEANNE SHAHEEN UNVEILS COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2008

CONTACT:
Kate Bedingfield
603 782 4613 (o)/603 361 8036 (c)/ kbedingfield@jeanneshaheen.org

Caitlin Legacki
603 782 4613 (o)/603 361 9643 (c)/ clegacki@jeanneshaheen.org

JEANNE SHAHEEN UNVEILS COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

 Shaheen meets with small business owners struggling with the soaring cost of health care to announce her plan

(Tilton) Former Governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen joined with small business owners in Tilton today to discuss the challenge of providing health benefits for small business employees and to unveil her proposals to reduce costs and expand affordable health care coverage.

"The soaring cost of health care is one of the biggest challenges that small business owners across New Hampshire face," Shaheen said. "But John Sununu has continued to put the interests of huge insurance and pharmaceutical companies ahead of the needs of New Hampshire small businesses. We need a new direction on health care policy, and to get it, we need a new Senator."

More than half of the estimated 47 million people across the country who lack health insurance live in a household headed by a small business owner or employee. In 2006, however, John Sununu told a group of small businessmen and women to "stop complaining" about the skyrocketing cost of health care.

"I think New Hampshire businesses deserve better leadership," Shaheen said. "I think they want a Senator who tackles the tough problems head on. As Senator, I will work to find real solutions."

In Tilton, Shaheen proposed a series of significant steps Washington should take to make health care more affordable for New Hampshire's small businesses.

*Establish a tax credit for small businesses. Jeanne Shaheen will fight for a  a tax credit for small businesses that pay for at least 60 percent of their employees' premiums and are located in states like New Hampshire where insurance firms are barred from discriminating against businesses that have sick workers.

The tax credit will be up to 50 percent on premiums paid by small businesses for their employees, and would be fully available to firms with 10 or fewer employees and phased out at firms with 50 employees.

*Lower the cost of prescription drugs. Jeanne Shaheen believes we should allow the importation of safe, cheap prescription drugs from Canada are available at more affordable rates, but and supports ending patent abuses that prevent cheaper generic drugs from coming to market.

When he has had the chance in the US Senate, John Sununu has voted against allowing safe reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada.

*Boost preventative care and chronic disease management. Jeanne Shaheen believes we should retool our current health care system to place greater emphasis on preventive care and chronic disease management. Over two-thirds of all health care costs today are spent on chronic care, and that drives up health insurance premiums for all of us. We currently have a sick care system and what we really need is a health care system.

*Apply new technology to health records and information. Currently, there is more information technology in most grocery stores than in most doctors' offices. Digitizing health information reduces duplication, avoids errors, allows providers to use data to improve their patients' outcomes and reduce costs and improves quality reporting and research into the effectiveness of different treatments. Transferring medical records to an electronic format lowers costs and increases efficiency.

*Reduce medication errors. Preventable medication errors cost about $1 billion a year and most medication errors are systems related, not the result of individual negligence or misconduct. System improvements can reduce error rates, improve quality and cut costs.  Jeanne Shaheen believes we should invest in programs like those implemented at the VA, which have reduced costly and dangerous medication errors by 70 percent.