"We need to focus on providing affordable health care and ensure that employers who provide health benefits to their employees are not forced to drop their coverage because of rising premiums and high administrative costs. WIPP proposes and supports Association Health Plans that allow small businesses to pool their resources with other small businesses to purchase insurance at better rates.

"The states have not been able to solve the health insurance crisis surrounding the small-business marketplace. Current AHPs under labor unions and Fortune 500 companies operate under ERISA regulations, so why can't small businesses have the same access, the same options and the same opportunity?"

President, Women Impacting Public Policy, testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship