Walter Rowen's Health Care Reform Journey

Holy Trinity member Walter Rowen testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee on November 3. His story has been chronicled in a front page article (with picture) in the New York Times.

Walt, a 1975 graduate of the University of Colorado, started his professional career with Susquehanna Glass Co. in the fall of 1975 as the company Sales Manager. However, as the grandson of one of the founders of the company, he had been working in the factory in the summers since he was 15. In 1999, Walt and his wife Kate signed a purchase agreement with Walt’s mother, Nancy Roye thus formally transitioning the company ownership to the third generation of the Roye/Rowen family.

Walt and Kate have 3 children and live in Lancaster, PA. Here's his own account of the experience.

My brush with the Health Insurance Reform issue and Washington all started around the end of September when a good business friend of mine called and asked if I’d mind if he gave my name to a lobbying firm working for small businesses. “The Small Business Majority”. http://www.smallbusinessmajority.com/profiles.php, was actively compiling data and working on several issues relevant to small business issues. They were putting a lot of effort into building profiles on small business owners around the country and asked if I’d send them some information on my company.

One of the major issues this group was focused on at the time was the rising costs of health insurance for small businesses, and since my company was just in the midst of re-negotiating our policy with horrifying increases, I had a compelling and relevant story. Consequently, when a NY Times reporter contacted this group for background information on a story she was writing about small business health insurance, they gave out the names of a few of their business members to be interviewed.

My name was included and I was contacted by the writer, Reed Abelson on Wednesday, October 21^st. The story she was following was whether small businesses were seeing unusually high renewal increases now that a health care reform bill was making it’s way through congress with a fairly good chance of passage. I told her that the renewal for our current plan from our current provider was quoted at a 160% increase. (We later realized and my senate testimony reflects that the increase was only a meager 128%) Most insurance executives when asked were quoting average increases to small businesses in the 10-15% range, but our experience was proving otherwise.

After being interviewed by phone Wednesday, I was called back the next day to confirm a few other details and asked if I would be willing to be photographed for the article. She told me the article was tentatively scheduled to run in that Sunday’s paper, possibly as a front page article. It did run that Sunday, on the front page. You can read her article at;

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/business/smallbusiness/25health.html?scp=1&sq=walter%20rowen&st=cse

A funny side note is that a condensed version of the article also appeared that same Sunday on the front page of the Lancaster paper. The photo and the last part of the article with information about our local business was left out.

I was sitting in my office the Monday after the article when I got a phone call from Senator Arlen Specter. He said he had just read the Times article and wanted to know more about our problems trying to secure affordable health insurance. After talking for about 10 minutes, he said he was hoping there might be a Senate hearing looking into why small businesses were being hit with these huge increases, and would I consider coming to Washington to testify? I told him I would and he said he’d be back in touch. Later that week, his aide contacted me with details about a Senate Hearing by the Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee to be held the following week and an invitation to testify. I was told I would have 5 minutes to make a statement before the committee Senators and then would be part of a panel for questions and answers.

On Tuesday, November 3^rd, I went before the committee in the Hart Senate building. The hearing was set to begin at 2:30, so I drove to Washington that day. My wife Kate, my mother Nancy Roye, who is a political/news junkie, and my business partner Chad Yaw all came with me. The panel was made up of me and another small business owner from Iowa, the Insurance Commissioner from Kansas, a woman representing the Insurance Industry, and two economists who specialized in health insurance issues. If you have ever watched CSPAN, you’ve probably seen some Senate Hearings under way and you would know that although the committee might have 20-25 members, the Senators are coming in and out through out the hearing . I did meet Senator Specter when he first came into the room before the hearing started, as well as Senator Bennett of Colorado, Senator Roberts of Kansas and Senator Harkin of Iowa.

The hearing started on time with the Chairman, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa making some opening remarks. The first thing Senator Harkin said was he received a call from Senator Specter last Sunday about an article he had just read in the NY Times. He said the article was about small businesses experiencing huge health insurance premium increases, and that the article mentioned a business in his state, Susquehanna Glass Co. Senator Specter asked that he consider convening a hearing of his HELP committee to look into this. Senator Harkin was saying that the article I contributed to, and more directly the information I supplied to the reporter for the article was in fact the very reason we were all gathered that day. I was shocked and amazed!

Trinity Member Walter Rowen's Health Care Reform Testimony

Holy Trinity member Walter Rowen testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee on November 3. His story has been chronicled in a front page article (with picture) in the New York Times.

Walt, a 1975 graduate of the University of Colorado, started his professional career with Susquehanna Glass Co. in the fall of 1975 as the company Sales Manager. However, as the grandson of one of the founders of the company, he had been working in the factory in the summers since he was 15. In 1999, Walt and his wife Kate signed a purchase agreement with Walt’s mother, Nancy Roye thus formally transitioning the company ownership to the third generation of the Roye/Rowen family.

Walt and Kate have 3 children and live in Lancaster, PA. Here's his testimony.

November 3, 2009

Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of this committee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today on the rising costs of Health Insurance for small businesses.

In 2 months, my company, Susquehanna Glass will be celebrating its 100^th Year in business. For at least the last 30 years, we have been offering health insurance coverage to our full time employees. We employ about 35 people, and 20-24 of them normally participate in the plan.

I own a family business, but I run my business like a family. Many of my employees have worked for me more than 15 years, a few more than 30. In these difficult economic times, I know all of you would agree that small businesses like mine, companies that keep employees for years because we treat them with decency and provide fair benefits, should be encouraged if not rewarded for our policies. Providing health insurance coverage to those employees who want and need it is one of those policies we still believe in and hope to continue.

Unfortunately, over the past several years, securing affordable health insurance has become increasingly difficult. From 2006-2008, we faced premium increases of 22%, 24% and 10%. In order to deal with these huge increases, we constantly shopped for new carriers and changed our policy, primarily by adding a deductible component to the plan and then steadily increasing the deductible amount. When we went to a deductible, the company fully funded an HRA for the employees for the last three years.

However, whatever problems we had in previous years paled in comparison to this year’s problems. Our initial cost increase from our insurer was quoted at 128%. When we shopped around, the best we could find was a policy that increased our premiums by about 43%, but this policy now carries an even higher deductible than last year. The total amount of the increase in premiums alone is a staggering $40,000. We were suddenly faced with a terrible dilemma, how do we divide up the added costs between the company and our employees? We decided the company would absorb all the premium increase, but the tradeoff was we could no longer pay for our employee’s deductibles. We will be paying $22,000 more without paying deductibles than our total spending last year when we paid all deductibles. But the real burden now falls on our employees who will be at risk for a $2,000 individual, $4,000 family deductible. This will potentially put some of our employees, if they need to use their health insurance to any extent, at a financial risk they will not be able to handle!

In talking to our insurance agent, the Broker Report they received from last years carrier indicated the huge premium increase was justified due to changes in three areas;

1. Demographic or Age change. The average age of our enrollee went from 45 to 49 years…11.32%

2. Pricing Trends for our industry…21.09%

3. Assessed Risk of our group…70.29%

Although this doesn’t add up to 128%, these were the risk areas and their relative percentages used to justify the rate increase. When you look at my company as an insurance group, it is abundantly clear that we will always struggle to get fair and affordable health insurance rates unless we can become part of a much larger insurance group.

To me, there are really two separate but interconnected issues involved in “Health Care Reform”.

1.) How do you create a better Health insurance system that will provide affordable coverage to more people?

2.) How can you start to control the spiraling cost of health care to the American population?

I am here today to simply bring to you my personal experience as a small businessman as it relates to the insurance issue. How can we create a better insurance system to spread the risk for individuals and small businesses? To me, creating a large, robust health insurance exchange that crosses state lines is a good first step toward distributing the risk. Requiring all individuals to have some form of health insurance, enacting reasonable tort reform and putting in place some accountability by the consumer when getting health care are also required if a good solution is to be found.

What has disappointed me as a small business owner is how long it has taken for any real work on health insurance reform to take place. As my insurance history shows, we have been living with dramatically rising health insurance costs for the last 4-5 years, which is evidence that the current system is unsustainable. This year’s increases are now proof that the system is absolutely broken and without reform, small business and the foundation upon which our economic system is founded is in real jeopardy. I applaud this committee’s efforts toward finally enacting Health Care Reform.

Again, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to share with you my company’s story.

Walter Rowen

CEO

Susquehanna Glass Co.

From Vicar Hetrick: Trinity Institute

Does Theology have a Role in Shaping a New Economy?

Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster is hosting a webcast of Trinity Institute's 2010 Conference in conjunction with Saint James Episcopal Church to ponder this question. Leading theologians and economists will discuss the relationship between economics and Christian belief and action, with relections by the participants as well. Topics include:

• Theology and Economics: Two Different Worlds?


• Is Capitalism a Belief System?


• What Is Wealth?


• What Do We Owe the Future?

Speakers include Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Kathryn Tanner, Sir Partha Dasgupta, and Bernard Ntahoturi. More information at www.trinitywallstreet.org/institute.

When: January 28-29, 2010

Time: 9 am to 5 pm each day

Registration cost: $30 inclusive for both days (includes snacks, beverages, and lunch); seminarian discount $15.

To register, call the Trinity Church office at 397-2734 or by email to vicar@trinitylancaster.org.

DEADLINE: January 15, 2010

Kingdom of God series

Our next three sessions of the Adult Forum will be devoted to an Advent topic, the Kingdom of God. For now, just a couple of thoughts. Israel's Scriptures testify to a tension between a desire for a king and the recognition that king's always fall short of God's standards. What would God's rule look like in the world?

Walter Rowen in the New York Times

If you'd like to see our own Walt Rowen's piece in the Times, just click here.

Health Care Reform Resources

Friends, we've been blessed with two weeks of outstanding information on health care reform in the United States. Many thanks to Jo Ann Lawer, Dr. Julie Jones, Dr. Steve Ratcliffe, Dr. John Garofola, and Dr. Gary Seldomridge for their contributions. Here are the resources we shared, both from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

ELCA RESOURCES ON HEALTH CARE REFORM

From the ELCA website, Advocacy section: resources on Health Care Reform:

ELCA Health Care Café Small Group Study Guide

ELCA News Service Report: “ELCA Advocacy Director Speaks to Reporters at Health Care Rally”

“Caring for Our Health: A Shared Endeavor,” from the ELCA Social Statement, August 15, 2003

Lutheran Services in America, “Health Care Reform: Responsibility for All”

ELCA Health Care Sunday Congregational Toolkit

Joint Statement on Health Care Affordability (signed by ELCA)

From the Kaiser Family Foundation: Resource home page for health care reform