In late October, the members of the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) sent a letter to President Obama, SBA Administrator Karen Mills, and key members of Congress outlining principles which emerged from the discussions at the Council’s September 30th summit on health care reform. At the summit, representatives from leading women’s business organizations, women entrepreneurs, medical practitioners, insurance providers, patient advocates, and policymakers engaged in thoughtful and deliberate discussion of the various components of health care reform.

The Council’s letter elaborates on the four primary health care reform principles that emerged from the discussions: accessibility, affordability, portability, and wellness. Specifically, the letter calls for a marketplace offering a menu of customized programs from which individuals can select coverage; transparent, per capita insurance pricing; parity for service to be purchased across state lines; tort reform; use of electronic medical records for cost reduction; individually-owned health insurance that travels with an employee as a personal plan when the individual departs a job; and a new focus on wellness education, with both individual and employer goals.

The letter concludes by urging the inclusion of the four principles – accessibility, affordability, portability and wellness – as policymakers move closer to formulating new health care reform legislation.

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The National Women’s Business Council held a town hall meeting for women entrepreneurs on October 21 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 8th in a series of meetings across the country, this event attracted nearly 200 participants and provided an opportunity for Council members to hear from a diverse population of women business owners who may not be involved regularly in the public policy process.

The program kicked off with remarks from Dr. James Logan, Dean of the College of Business at the University of New Orleans, Michael Ricks, District Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration Louisiana District Office, Nolan Rollins, President of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, and Carmen Sunda, Director of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center Greater New Orleans Region. The speakers shared insights on how their programs support women and minority-owned businesses in the greater New Orleans region.

Later during breakout sessions, participants discussed the challenges and priorities they face running their businesses in areas such as affordable health care, access to capital, procurement, taxes, microenterprises, and workforce development. To address and learn from the particular challenges faced by businesses after a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, sessions on business sustainability and continuity were also included in the program. A closing panel featured experienced business owners sharing their strategies for maintaining and rebuilding a business after a disaster and weathering the current economic climate.

The results of the day-long discussions will be compiled in a Council report to policymakers, to ensure that the voices of women business owners are being heard on Capitol Hill. Visit www.nwbc.gov for more information on the Council’s town hall meetings, including reports on previous meetings and issue backgrounders developed from breakout discussions.

Council members appreciated learning about the ongoing challenges facing businesses in the New Orleans region and hope to continue to support women business owners in the area as they rebuild their businesses and their communities. For information on how you can assist the women business owner community in New Orleans, contact the Council at info@nwbc.gov.

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On October 14, NWBC staff member Katherine Stanley attended a meeting at the White House on the Obama administration’s plans for financial regulatory reform. The meeting included a briefing on what led to the need for financial reform, current legislative proposals, and how financial reform will affect consumers and business owners. Discussion also focused on what a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) will mean for women, in particular. To learn more about the proposed CFPA click here or here.

On November 10, Ms. Stanley also participated in a discussion of how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can improve its outreach to the self-employed, women-owned and small businesses. The IRS hosted the meeting to learn from organizations already serving the small business community how it can deliver better service to emerging industries in the small business community. Stanley shared insights on the needs and interests on the growing population of women business owners. Click here to learn more about the IRS’ services for small businesses and the self-employed.

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On October 21, President Obama announced his support for legislation that would increase the maximum size of some SBA loans, providing more access to credit for small businesses. Specifically, he called for increasing the size of SBA’s 7(a) loan from $2 million to $5 million; increasing the size of SBA’s 504 loan from $2 million to $5 million for standard borrowers and from $4 million to $5.5 million for manufacturers; and increasing the size of SBA’s Microloan from $35,000 to $50,000.

In addition, President Obama outlined a new initiative to provide small businesses access to credit through additional support for small community lenders. The president’s plan involves providing lower-cost capital to community banks to increase small business lending and making low-cost capital available to Community Development Financial Institutions in the hardest hit rural and urban communities. Finally, the president announced that the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration would host a small business lending conference to work with Members of Congress, regulators, lenders, and the small business community to discuss additional efforts that can be taken to provide the small business community with access to credit.

Click here to find out more about President Obama’s plan to improve access to credit to small businesses or here to read the SBA’s announcement.

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On November 7, the House passed its version of health care reform, entitled America’s Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962). The bill includes a new government-run insurance plan to compete with the private companies, a requirement that all Americans have health insurance, and a prohibition on denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The legislation exempts small businesses with payroll under $250,000 from employer mandates and offers a new small business tax credit for those firms who want to provide health coverage to their workers. Click here to read a summary of the House legislation.

Senate leaders have been working to reconcile provisions in the Senate Finance Committee proposed America’s Healthy Future Act (S. 1796) with language in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions bill entitled Affordable Health Choices Act (S.1679). However, as of November 13, the Senate has not produced comprehensive legislation that would survive a Senate floor vote.

Although time tables for the passage of comprehensive health care legislation are constantly fluid, policymakers remain cautiously optimistic that a bill will be approved and signed into law by year’s end. House Majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has issued a revised legislative calendar scheduling possible votes up to Christmas Eve. The likelihood of health care reform making it through Congress this year will be based on two things: the speed at which the Senate can produce and pass a bill, and the difficult negotiations in conference committee, where members of the House and Senate will have to hash out competing, and sometimes controversial, provisions between each chamber’s proposed legislation.

For additional information on each of the proposed pieces of health care legislation, including a chart comparing the provisions of each proposed bill, please visit the Kaiser Family Foundation web site.

NWBC will provide additional congressional updates as they arise.

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In honor of the upcoming holidays, there will be no December issue of Engage! Stay tuned for more news and information from the National Women’s Business Council in January.

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