Avoiding Health Care Reform Pitfalls

Health care reform has been a tough nut to crack, even though we all recognize the flaws in our system. Health care costs too much, provides inadequate quality, and leaves too many without reliable access. But the time has come to take this crisis on, and the U.S. Chamber has been encouraged by President Obama's pledge to make health care reform a top priority. For the first time in recent memory, stakeholders from across the political and economic spectrum are coming together to discuss real reform. Two months ago, I participated in President Obama's health care summit and was impressed by the thoughtfulness of the discussion.

There is much that the business community and the administration agree on. Adoption of health care IT, investment in results-driven medicine, and an emphasis on wellness and prevention are all accepted as essential components of a reform plan. But we disagree about the proper role of government in the health care sector.

The administration favors the creation of a government-run insurance plan—euphemistically called a public option and now brazenly referred to as consumer-driven—that would compete with private insurance. According to the Lewin Group, such competition would be short lived, as an estimated 130 million people would drop private insurance for the government plan. To control costs, it's likely that Washington bureaucrats would ration care and limit the types of treatments available. The Chamber believes that no American should have to wait in line for care or be denied lifesaving treatments. We will fight any initiative that would impose such limits.

In addition to a government-run plan, Congress wants a mandate requiring that businesses make health insurance available to their employees. Most employers who can afford to provide health benefits already do so, covering more than 130 million Americans at a cost of more than $500 billion per year. But employers who cannot afford to provide such benefits—including small businesses, seasonal employers, and businesses operating on small profit margins—would be unable to meet the demands of a mandate. Many of these employers may be forced to cut jobs and lay off employees. This is a step in the wrong direction.

In spite of these challenges, the U.S. Chamber believes that health care reform is imperative. We look forward to working with President Obama and Congress to pass health care reform that is good for families, good for businesses, and good for taxpayers.