U.S. Chamber on Repeal of Health Care Law

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President for Government Affairs, Bruce Josten, issued the following statement today on the House vote to repeal the burdensome health care law:

“Today’s vote sent an important message to the American people that Congress is listening to their call for health care reform that truly lowers cost and improves quality without irreparably damaging our economy and inhibiting job creation.

“The health care law enacted last year is a fundamentally flawed approach. The law fails to achieve one of the primary goals of health care reform: to ‘bend the health care cost curve downwards.’ It imposes mandates and penalties on businesses that discourage job growth, increases taxes and burdens on small businesses, creates dangerous new entitlements while cutting Medicare, and creates new plan requirements that will increase costs.

“At the outset, the Chamber called on Congress to approve workable, meaningful health reform. We believe real, market-based solutions to lower the costs of health care, cover more of the uninsured, and improve the quality of care are long overdue. To achieve this goal, the Chamber believes a strong, bipartisan bill is a necessity.

“Since the bill was enacted in March of 2010, Chamber members have begun to feel the effects of the new law and many of the fears expressed by the business community have been confirmed. For example, the virtual inability to “grandfather” current plans is but one example of the problems created by the law that are causing angst among employers. Chamber members also question how they will be able to comply with the law and its crushing regulatory burden in the unreasonable and compressed timeframe it provides.

“The U.S. Chamber stands ready to help Congress build and pass a bill that what will actually improve our health care system and lower costs for all."

For more information, please visit the Chamber’s Health Reform Impacts website: http://www.healthreformimpacts.com/

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry

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