The AIA is advocating for relief from high costs of health insurance as part of a coalition that includes the major engineering and construction societies working to pass H.R. 525, the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote later this month on the act, which would establish association health plans (AHPs). AHPs allow trade, industry, professional, chambers of commerce, or similar business associations to establish health plans for their members. The bill currently has 135 cosponsors.

“The rising cost of health insurance is an issue that affects all architecture firms, regardless of size, but it affects smaller firms especially hard. This bill will go a long way toward making health insurance more affordable,” says Tom Wolfe, senior director, AIA Federal Affairs. Although the House has passed association health plan legislation on seven separate occasions over the last decade, the Senate has never voted on the issue. That may change, however, as Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.) Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chair, has expressed his desire to take action on an AHP bill.

The AIA Government Advocacy team urges AIA members to contact their House members to ask them to vote in favor of the Small Business Health Fairness Act. “The larger the vote in support in the House, the more momentum the bill will have as it moves to the Senate,” Wolfe explains. In addition, members are urged to contact their senators to request that they cosponsor the Senate version of the bill, S.406. “The legislation will not become a reality unless it gets strong backing in both the House and the Senate. And that won’t happen unless our elected representatives hear from constituents who are most affected by this issue,” Wolfe says.

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