U.S. Chamber: Senate Finance Bill Best Effort to Date, But Serious Concerns Remain

WASHINGTON, D.C.- U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Bruce Josten issued the following statement on the Senate Finance Committee's "America's Healthy Future Act":

"Chairman Baucus has made a good faith effort to address the concerns of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and we thank him for his inclusive efforts. The business community has strongly advocated for health care reform and the Senate Finance bill is the best effort to date.

"We applaud the provisions in this bill that will lower health care costs, increase coverage, and improve the quality of care. These range from fairly regulating the insurance market to enacting tax parity for small businesses and the self employed. We strongly support allowing plans to be sold nationally, and allowing individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines. This bill does not contain a government-run "public option", and the Congressional Budget Office has certified it as the first comprehensive health reform bill that will actually bend the cost curve and get health care costs under control.

"However, we have grave concerns over the vast array of new taxes contained in the bill. This bill creates a new tax on benefits that may well spiral out of control to become the next Alternative Minimum Tax. It taxes prescriptions, insurance policies, medical devices, clinics and labs… and all of these taxes will increase costs for employers and workers. The bill does not contain health courts or any other meaningful medical liability reform. Not to mention, the bill creates a massive new entitlement in the form of insurance credits that will burden taxpayers now and in the future. Overall, the bill still needs tremendous improvement.

We look forward to continuing to work with the Chairman and other policy makers as this difficult but important process continues to move forward."

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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