DALLAS,
TEXAS - National Business Association Chairman relays major concerns for small
business with the present direction of health care reform before Congress. "The
Board of Directors for the National Business Association has made it a goal to
ensure that Small Business and the Self-employed are provided access to health
care at a reasonable cost without endangering business growth and job creation.
The present health care reform before Congress creates massive government bureaucracy,
unduly burdens Small Business and threatens choice options." - With
high levels of unemployment, increased taxation on small business, to create health
care reform, will cause further harm to our economy.
The bill imposes a
new 5.4% federal income surtax on many individuals and small businesses ($461
billion), new taxes on medical devices ($20b) and small business transactions
($17b), 8% payroll tax on many businesses ($135b), 2.5% tax on the uninsured ($33b),
and more.1
- Small business has always sought reform
for accessible and affordable healthcare options for their employees. Employer
mandates or pay-to-play are not viable options.
One concern about pay-to-play
mandates is that they may have a negative effect on employment, particularly for
low-income workers. Most economists believe that employers will respond to the
mandate by passing the cost of insurance on to workers in the form of reduced
wages, and that workers will be willing to accept this as long as they value the
insurance. But in the case of workers at or near the minimum wage, wages will
not be able to fall to offset the cost of insurance. Employers thus may respond
by laying workers off if the work-ers' total compensation (wages plus insurance)
exceeds their productive value to the firm. 2
- Public
option entitlement programs will lead to diminished choice.
The political
incentive will always be for government to expand benefits and reduce cost-sharing,
trampling any chance of giving individuals financial incentives to economize on
care. Essentially, all insurers will become government contractors, in the business
of fulfilling political demands: There will be no such thing as "private"
health insurance. Once health care is nationalized, or mostly nationalized, medical
rationing is inevitable-especially for the innovative high-cost technologies and
drugs that are the future of medicine. 3
The
National Business Association remains steadfast and is ready to work with Congress
and the Administration to pass health care reform legislation. However, H.R. 3962
-Affordable Health Care for America Act does not favorably reflect the needs or
concerns of our membership. We encourage Congress to reject H.R.3962 as introduced
and work toward responsible legislation that will benefit all involved and ask
that you contact your elected official to express your concerns at the links provided
below. Contact Your Elected Officials - http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml Free
Our Health Care Now! presented by National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)
http://www.freeourhealthcarenow.com/ Credit:
1Congressional
Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation reports on H.R. 3962. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/106xx/doc10688/hr3962Rangel.pdf,
http://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&id=3619 2
The Economics of 'Pay-or-Play' Mandates.
National Bureau of Economic Research,
1050 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138
http://www.nber.org/aginghealth/fall07/w13528.html 3
The Worst Bill Ever. The Wall Street Journal | 2009-11-01
http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB10001424052748703399204574505423751140690.html
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of this article does not constitute an endorsement by the National Business Association;
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