MBPA Supports Federal Funding

By Bonnie Bochniak
Vice President, Government Relations MBPA/MFBA

February 2013 – The Michigan Business and Professional Association is asking the support of both the State House and Senate in appropriating the $30 million in federal grant funding available to lay the groundwork for establishing a health insurance marketplace for our state-federal partnership plan. The Association sent this letter to all legislators, as we feel our state resources should not be utilized in order to lay the groundwork for the federal health care plan. If there is federal funding to help defer that cost, we support accepting it.

Letter:

The Michigan Business and Professional Association representing over 20,000 small businesses statewide, ask for your support in appropriating the $30 million in federal grant funding available to lay the groundwork for establishing a health insurance market place for our state-federal partnership plan.

Our association did not support the formation of PPACA, and lobbied strongly against it. Despite our actions and the final outcome, it is the law of the land. We are moving forward to help our members, the business community, prepare for their future and give them the tools they need.

We believe that Michigan should be granted as much decision making power allowable by the federal health care law, which would be to establish a state-based exchange here in Michigan. Although, that is not the path our state has chosen, we still need to appropriate the $30 million in grant funding that has recently become available to begin our operations as a state-federal partnership, to comply with federal law.

We all understand that the $30 million in federal grant monies in no way ties our state to any permanent health care decisions; it merely gives us much needed revenue to begin technical compliance, while saving our general fund dollars. We understand the political ramifications in supporting this grant, but ask you to look beyond that and do what is best for Michigan. The time to act is now. This is the last remaining option we have for Michigan to maintain some control over decisions made in regards to our health care. Please support and pass the supplemental, providing us with the $30 million in federal funding our state desperately needs.

As always, please contact our Government Relations team with any questions. By phone: 888-277-6464 or by email: bbochniak@michbusiness.org. We value your feedback