3RD DISTRICT CANDIDATE ED MARTIN LEADS THE WAY AGAIN BY RELEASING ONE MORE STEP IN HIS SMALL BUSINESS PLAN

Last week I reported 3rd Congressional District Libertarian candidate Ed Martin's plan for small business Louisville News and Politics: TUESDAY TWO-FER:GREEN GETTING SCREWED AND MARTIN RELEASES A PLAN, and now he has released one more step.

According to Martin we need to overhaul the workers comp part of small business insurance and he has proposed a way to do it. Here is his release in its entirety.

For Immediate Release: Sept 13, 2010

Contact: Darren Brinksneader
Media Director
502.608.8216
darrenb@edmartin4congress.com
www.edmartin4congress.com


Ed Martin Releases Second Plank of Small Business Initiative – Worker’s Comp Reform

Ed Martin, Libertarian candidate for the Kentucky 3rd District congressional seat, released the second plank of his small business initiative today, a proposal to reform the worker’s comp insurance system.

Martin’s plan would allow businesses already providing full employee health insurance to purchase workers’ comp insurance as a supplemental policy.

“In addition to taxes, a difficult economic climate, and contracting credit, the passage of the federal health care bill will place an even greater burden on small businesses. They will soon face the prospect of providing mandated health care coverage whether they want to or can afford to,” Martin said. “Businesses must also purchase workers’ comp insurance. At its best, workers’ comp provides a long-term income safety net for those injured on the job, but for companies already providing health coverage, the current laws simply force employers to purchase redundant health insurance policies.”

To ease the burden on small businesses, Martin proposes a two-tiered workers’ comp system. Companies not offering employee health insurance will still operate under the requirement to provide full workers’ comp coverage. But companies providing a specified level of health insurance coverage will have the option of purchasing a supplemental workers’ comp policy, bridging any gaps, and providing lost work and disability benefits.

“Why should businesses have to double up on coverage?” Martin asked. “For companies that provide health insurance, workers’ comp is essentially a duplicated layer of health insurance - with only slightly more comprehensive coverage. By streamlining the system, we can take some of the burden off small business without hurting workers.”

The plan would yield several benefits.

• It would eliminate mandates that effectively require businesses to purchase redundant health insurance coverage, saving them much needed capital for expansion and hiring.

• If the federal health insurance mandate stands, this plan provides businesses some relief, providing an opportunity to offset the burdensome costs though realized savings on workers’ comp insurance.

• In the event that the courts find federal health insurance mandates unconstitutional or future legislation repeals them, this proposal will offer businesses both an incentive and expense offset for voluntarily providing health insurance to their employees.

“In these tough economic times, we need to make a more honest effort to reduce the amount of waste and inefficiency, not only in government, but in the private sector as well. Eliminating what in essence is duplicate coverage only makes sense,” Martin said.

Martin campaign Manager, Ron Seiter, said that the small business initiatives, including exempting the first $25,000 of profit from federal taxation and this workers’ comp reform, will free up capital, allowing businesses to expand and hire.

“Ed’s plan will actually help to jump start the economy,” Seiter said. “Our opponents have come up with nothing. Congressman Yarmuth wants to keep on spending borrowed money on stimulus projects. We’ve seen how that works. And Todd Lally hasn’t brought anything to the table, other than some generalized talk about tax cuts. In the meantime, Ed is coming out with specific, solid plans.”

Your thoughts?