Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry may have trouble telling jokes, but he knows how to get down to serious business.
At the top of Kerry's agenda: a bipartisan solution that would make health care more affordable to small business owners and create more oversight of the government's contracting procedures to ensure that small business contracts actually go to small business. Kerry is partnering on his initiatives with Republican senator Olympia Snowe.
"We'll engage the committee on [health care] right away," he says. Pledging bipartisanship, the Massachusetts senator says he will work to find a compromise that allows for more affordable coverage for the 27 million uninsured Americans who work for small businesses. Kerry acknowledged that health insurance pools, where small businesses could purchase insurance policies in groups, is the most likely near-term solution.
Still, the mostly Republican-backed solution has been a source of contention and confusion in the Senate. In May 2006, Republican Sen. Mike Enzi proposed what he called the "Association Health Plans." Democrats, including John Kerry, blocked Enzi's plan, arguing that it would give insurers too many ways to bypass state mandated consumer health protections. Kerry and other critics also said premiums for small businesses could actually increase, since insurers wouldn't be forced to follow current legal limits for small group policies. An alternative bill proposed by Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas would create a small firm buy-in system similar to federal employees' health benefits program. The government would run and regulate the program, rather than insurers.
I've seen some folks, not necessarily here, making fun of Kerry's new chairmanship, making jokes about him being "small business" and such. But I think that small business owners are important, and I like what he's saying here about making health care more affordable for them to give to their employees.
If you think it's funny, I reckon you don't have a small business.
And there are those on the other side who say we Dems are against businessmen. No, we're just more for the little guy than the the bigwigs (or should be ideally). Read the rest of the article. It's pretty good.
The rest... of the story. On Forbes.com.