U.S. Chamber Marks One Year Anniversary of Health Care Law

‘This Law Has Raised Costs Higher Than Expected, Produced A Wave Of Complex New Regulations, And Has Had A Chilling Impact On Economic Growth And Job Creation,’ Says Josten

WASHINGTON, D.C—On the one-year anniversary of Obamacare, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today expressed its continued opposition to the law because it has failed to curtail rising costs and will result in the loss of more than 800,000 jobs over the next ten years, according to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

“The health care law has raised costs higher than expected, produced a wave of complex new regulations, and has had a chilling impact on economic growth and job creation,” said Bruce Josten, executive vice president for Government Affairs at the U.S. Chamber. “As 14 million Americans look for a job, businesses are calculating the costs of complying with the employer mandate and absorbing new taxes and fees in future years, and are coming to the conclusion that it doesn’t make sense to add to their payrolls.”

According to a recent CBO estimate, the health care law will increase federal health care spending by nearly half a trillion dollars over the next decade. Officials—including the chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—have acknowledged that because of higher cost estimates, the savings earmarked for Medicare will never materialize. Private employer health care costs are also rising due in part to health care law mandates that took effect last fall.

The law creates 159 new agencies, commissions, panels, and other bodies and grants extraordinary powers to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to redefine health care as we know it. Regulators are issuing thousands of pages of rules while allowing hardly any time for public comments, creating tremendous uncertainty among businesses and individuals. For example, the regulation implementing the Administration’s promise to allow people to keep their plan and doctor was rushed through before public comments, then changed two months later, resulting in thousands of dollars in wasted compliance costs.

“The health care law is overwhelming businesses and individuals with a wave of costly and confusing regulations,” Josten stated.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released today, 59% oppose the health care law as compared to the minority of 37% of Americans who support it. That's basically unchanged from last March, when 59% opposed the law compared to a mere 39% who supported the measure.

“It’s time for members of Congress and the Obama administration to face the facts: the health care law is impractical and unworkable,” Josten concluded. “Congress needs to scrap the health care law and start over before any more damage is done. What our country needs is commonsense solutions that will actually reduce costs, improve care, and expand access to coverage.”

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 associations.

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