The National Association of Realtors cheered the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce for approving the Small Business Health Fairness Act, H.R. 525, last month.
The legislation, which is one of NAR’s top priorities, would allow small businesses and self-employed workers to band together through a trade or professional association to negotiate lower health insurance costs for participants.
Small business health plans would operate under the same rules as federally regulated large corporate and union health plans that provide group health insurance to all participants regardless of where they live.
The measure was introduced last month by Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio), Sam Johnson (R-Texas), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) and Albert Wynn (D-Md.).
The bill, which now enjoys a bipartisan list of over 110 cosponsors, is identical to legislation that passed the House twice last year with bipartisan support.
Companion legislation, S. 406, was introduced by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo) last month. President Bush signaled his strong support by highlighting the issue in his State of the Union address this year.
“Most Realtors are small business people or independent contractors who struggle to find low-cost, high-quality health care for their employees and families,” said NAR President Al Mansell, CEO of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Salt Lake City. “Small business health plans will give small business and self-employed workers the same right to quality, affordable health insurance as corporate employees and union members. Realtors are committed to doing everything we can to help Congress enact small business health plan legislation this year.”
A significant number of America’s 45 million uninsured citizens work for small businesses who cannot afford to offer quality health insurance benefits to their workers. According to a 2004 NAR survey, 28 percent of Realtors have no health insurance at all.
Only seven percent of real estate firms offer health care coverage for independent contractors, who are the largest segment of real estate agents.