U.S. Chamber Calls Health Care Mandates Bad Medicine

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The United States Chamber of Commerce reiterated that now is not the time to add new mandates to health care plans, following years of double-digit health care cost increases.

"With health care costs soaring, mandating new benefits will cause some employers to drop health care coverage," said Bruce Josten, Chamber executive vice president. "Congress should concentrate on making health care coverage more affordable and accessible for working families, not pricing it out of reach."

Employers voluntarily provide coverage to 177 million workers, retirees and their families, according to the Chamber. Lawmakers should focus on expanding coverage to more Americans, rather than enriching the benefits of those already covered.

"Recent Census Bureau reports have shown the number of uninsured Americans has increased, following two years of steady declines," said Josten. "Most of the newly uninsured are people working for small businesses, which have the hardest time finding and affording coverage for workers."

The new, so-called "Patients Bill of Rights" introduced today by Rep. Charles Norwood (R-GA) has eliminated earlier provisions that would have expanded health plan liability, language that has been strongly opposed by business groups. However, even without injecting trial lawyers further into the health care system, the new bill's mandates will accelerate the rising cost of health care coverage.

"It's ironic that the House may consider a bill that will worsen the problem for employers and their workers, while - at the same time - the Senate Small Business Committee was holding hearings into solutions for small business coverage," Josten said.

The Chamber submitted comments to the Senate outlining the business community's support for legislation that would allow small businesses to purchase health care coverage through association health plans.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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03-21