NEWS RELEASE

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) today (Friday, Nov. 20) was joined by dozens of lawmakers in both the House and Senate to demand answers from American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) CEO Karen Ignani in light of sharply rising health insurance premiums for small businesses.

“In this tough economy, we need to do everything we can to protect small businesses,” said Sen. Franken. “In Minnesota, they’re being squeezed by a credit crunch already. They can’t absorb unwarranted health insurance premium hikes on top of that. We need to stimulate job creation and business growth right now and these rate hikes will do exactly the opposite.”

Next year, health care providers are proposing to increase premiums for customers across the country by 15 percent. This means the annual premium per employee will have risen from $4,500 in 2008 to $5,500 in 2010 – and increase of $1000 per employee in just two years.