ABC To Testify At Two Senate Hearings On Association Health Plan Legislation, Wednesday April 20 And Thursday April 21

WASHINGTON, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), one of the nation’s leading experts on Association Health Plan (AHP) legislation, will testify at two separate U.S. Senate hearings in favor of AHPs -- Wed. April 20 and Thurs. April 21. ABC strongly supports Senate passage of S. 406, the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005, legislation introduced Feb. 17 by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

Wednesday, April 20 What: ABC testimony before the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee on AHP legislation, S. 406. Where: 428 Russell Senate Office Building When: 10 a.m., Wed. April 20, 2005 Who: Doug Newman, president of Newman Concrete Services, Inc., Hallowell, Maine, a member of ABC’s Maine chapter. Thursday, April 21 What: ABC testimony before the full U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on AHP legislation, S. 406. Where: 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building When: 10 a.m., Thurs. April 21, 2005 Who: Joe Rossmann, ABC vice president of insurance, who has managed ABC’s health benefits programs for more than 17 years. ABC is one of the nation’s most experienced associations on AHPs, having provided association health benefits programs since 1957.

ABC established its association health benefits plan in 1957 and through the years offered traditional health insurance plans, HMOs and PPOs to its members, many of whom were small business owners who would otherwise not be able to afford health insurance coverage for their employees. But in 2001, ABC was forced to discontinue the health insurance portion of its plan when ABC’s insurance carrier terminated coverage due to incompatible and inconsistent state laws. ABC strongly supports passage of S. 406 which would give America’s small businesses and their employees access to affordable health care coverage through Association Health Plans.

Editors Note: Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association representing 23,000 merit shop construction and construction- related firms throughout the United States. For more news and information on AHPs, visit http://www.abc.org/ahp.

Associated Builders and Contractors

CONTACT: Gail Raiman, +1-703-812-2073, Scott Brown, +1-703-812-2062, orPeter Mason, +1-703-812-2069, all of Associated Builders and Contractors