NAR on Health Care

Author: Jay T. - The Editor

Posted on May 15, 2008 
Filed Under NAR - General

The vast majority of Realtors are independent contractors. As such, they typically have to foot the (ridiculous) cost of health insurance on their own.

Ever priced health insurance?

Many (myself included) have wondered why the NAR doesn’t throw its political weight and 1.4ish million member strong organization into helping Realtors get affordable health care.

Well, apparently they are working on it. Sort of.

From the NAR’s “Speaking of Real Estate” blog comes this article — Taking Another Stab at Health Care.

These concerns are why I’ve always intently followed NAR’s efforts to get a small-business health plan bill through Congress. I hadn’t heard much about the initiative lately — at least not until I sat in on the Business Issues Committee meeting today at the NAR Midyear Meetings.

That’s where I heard that NAR has been keeping up the fight and has now played a key role in shaping the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, a bill introduced in Senate last month. (my emphasis)

A key role? What key role? What exactly is the NAR doing in this arena? This article tells us basically nothing — no specifics, nothing about what we the membership can do to help.

Maybe the NARs activities on health care are described somewhere else. But darned if I can find it.

Do we just sit back and wait for the NAR’s “key role” to produce something?

If I’ve missed the details, I’d love for someone to point them out. Working to secure affordable health care for its memberships should be a primary point of focus for the NAR. In my humble opinion….

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Comments

5 Responses to “NAR on Health Care”

  1. The Harriman Team on May 15th, 2008 1:25 pm

    It seems to me that, since the NAR has 1.4 million members who pay a considerable sum for dues to said organization, that the NAR should be able to negotiate on our behalf to get us reasonable health care rates. Before I became a realtor, I worked for a couple different companies, none of which had anywhere close to 1.4 million employees, and those companies gave us excellent benefits at a reasonable cost, including dental and vision coverage. If a company with 10,000 to 20,000 employees can do it, why can’t NAR?? What makes them so different from much smaller companies who take care of their rank and file? Do I really need to ask that question?

  2. Lenore Wilkas on May 15th, 2008 2:39 pm

    I can’t agree with you more! We should be offered much more than we are. Our dues go to run an office, pay salaries, and perhaps afford a little lobbying on our behalf. Why aren’t we told what they are lobbying for? In fact, why aren’t we told what they do for the money we have to pay them? I want an annual report as a “shareholder”!

  3. Pamela Geurds Kabati on May 16th, 2008 8:49 am

    Hi Jay,
    I saw your pickup of the post from REALTOR Magazine’s Speaking of Real Estate blog from NAR’s Midyear Meeting (glad you’re a reader!)and wanted to respond to your request for more information about NAR’s “key role” in the recent health care legislation.

    I spoke to our NAR government affairs folks, and they explained that NAR worked with the Senators who sponsored S.2795, The Small Business Health Act Options Program Act of 2008 (SHOP), to ensure that the provisions of the bill are written in a way that would provide maximum benefit to NAR members and that align with NAR’s policy on small business healthcare, as established by the members of NAR’s Public Policy Committee.

    Now, I’m guessing your next question might be, so what is NAR’s policy? I’m not a legislative expert, but I can point you to the policy and an explanation of it at NAR’s web site, realtor.org: CLICK HERE

    I hope this is helpful.

    Also, Lenore, there actually is an NAR annual report that’s produced each year. It’s currently available at the home page of realtor.org, just underneath the FLASH pictures, in the section called “Also of Interest.” I hope it helps to answer your questions.

    Best,
    Pamela Kabati
    Vice President and Editorial Director
    NAR Publications

  4. Jay T. - The Editor on May 16th, 2008 9:40 am

    Pamela -

    Thanks so much for stopping by NARWisdom and clarifying! It’s greatly appreciated!!

    Lenore -

    Here is the link to the NAR Annual report Pamela mentioned.

  5. Matthew Rathbun on May 16th, 2008 6:11 pm

    Lenore - Daniel (RealEstateZebra) has started the answer to your question http://agentgenius.com/?p=1737 .

    Jay - I’m not sure, but I think that NAR is still trying to get the Realtor Credit Union up and running to be able to help bring unity which under current law may help us provide insurance. I know that they’ve been working on this issue for a long time.

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