For an MP3 soundbite, click HERE.
Sinema highlighted her bipartisan Senate working group’s role in identifying and advancing solutions around risk-sharing and future pandemics
WASHINGTON – In a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema underscored the need for a faster, more efficient response to future pandemics. During the hearing, Sinema highlighted her bipartisan Senate pandemic risk working group’s role in creating and advancing an insurance framework that will reduce the price tag of any future pandemic response and address some of the waste, fraud, and abuse observed with respect to pandemic aid.
“Our response to future pandemics needs to be leaner, faster, and smarter, and it is important to me that future responses are more fiscally responsible, as it is clear that the risk of overspending coupled with supply chain disruptions can trigger an inflationary response,” said Sinema, a member of the Senate Banking Committee.
One of the witnesses in attendance was Commissioner Kathleen A. Birrane of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, whom Sinema questioned about enhancing insurance affordability for small business owners in Arizona. Sinema expressed her preference for a solution that includes a framework allowing small businesses to purchase subsidized coverage so business owners know exactly how much coverage they are getting.
Additionally, Sinema shared with the witnesses her determination in identifying a bipartisan federal solution to insurance issues as they relate to future pandemic responses, ensuring any future response is thoughtful, targeted, and reflective of the concerns of Arizona businesses.
Last year, Sinema and her staff convened a bipartisan Senate working group with other members of the Senate Banking Committee to advance solutions around risk-sharing and future pandemics. Their goal is to improve the resiliency of the U.S. economy to future pandemic-related economic shocks by creating an insurance framework that brings forward the power of the private sector and provides business owners with choices to buy coverage that aligns with their needs and their risk tolerance.