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Self-Insurance/ART Industry Lobbied Congress Contact: David Kirby WASHINGTON DC, March 6, 2008 – Members of the Self-Insurance Institute of America, Inc. (SIIA) helped the association promote its legislative agenda to Congress today in their annual “Walk on Capitol Hill” that is a feature of the Legislative & Regulatory Conference which is currently being held at the Washington Marriott Hotel.
SIIA members from throughout the nation participated in approximately 250 scheduled appointments in the offices of their Senators and Representatives. They emphasized their objectives of maintaining the employer-sponsored health care system under the federal ERISA law and modernizing the federal Liability Risk Retention Act.
“In these high-tech times, this is an example of high-touch political advocacy,” said SIIA President Dick Goff, citing a theme of author John Naisbitt. “There is nothing so effective for a politician as having a constituent arrive with a dose of reality from the home district,” he added.
This 22nd Annual Legislative & Regulatory Conference includes members of Congress and the federal administration who are discussing a broad range of health care reform perspectives and other matters of interest to the self-insurance industry.
Expected speakers for the conference included Senators Michael Enzi (R-WY), sponsor of legislation to allow small employer pooling to purchase employee health care plans, and Ron Wyden (D-OR) whose proposed Healthy Americans Act (HAA) would eliminate the employer-based system of health care. Sen. Wyden has said he is pleased to meet with groups that may not traditionally share his views.
Members of the House of Representatives who were expected to speak include Charles W. Boustany (R-LA), a member of the House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP); Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the highest-ranking Republican on the HELP subcommittee; Rep. Dennis Moore (D-KS) of the House Committee on the Budget and Financial Services that will consider insurance regulatory reform; and Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), a physician and former medical director of the Orthopedic Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, with perspectives on health care reform.
In addition, Bradford Campbell, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security Administration, reflected the administration’s views of ERISA-protected employee benefit plans.
SIIA is a national trade association serving the self-insurance and alternative risk transfer (ART) industries. Information about SIIA and a complete conference program are available at www.siia.org. ### |
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