MO chamber joins grassroots health reform coalition
SBJ Staff
Posted online
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, along with 20 statewide chambers and employer organizations nationwide, announced an alliance Sept. 3 to add its voice to the ongoing federal health care debate.
The group, dubbed Employers for Quality Health Care, is an independent coalition that brings a unique perspective to the table alongside national business groups.
"The Missouri Chamber believes that health care reforms should be focused on enhancing a free-market health system that uses competition and choice to improve care, expand coverage and reduce costs," said Trey Davis, Missouri Chamber vice president of governmental affairs, in a news release.
Coalition members, which represent thousands of employers that voluntarily provide coverage for millions of workers and their families, outlined priorities and suggestions for reform in a letter to President Barack Obama and members of Congress.
"We stand united in support of free-market reforms that promote choice and competition - improving care, expanding coverage and reducing costs," said George Israel, president of coalition member Georgia Chamber of Commerce, in the release. "We look forward to sharing real solutions with Congress, including many that have been effective in our own states."
While some coalition members have first-hand knowledge of reform benefits, others have faced other outcomes from homegrown efforts, group members said. Massachusetts, for example, rushed through a major overhaul of its health care system in 2006 and now has the highest premiums in the nation.
The coalition is opposed to an employer mandate - noting that most employers who can afford to provide health coverage already do so because it attracts and retains quality employees - and new government-run coverage that would shift millions of Americans off their existing private plans.
The group also is concerned with how reforms will combat rising costs for care.
"Health-related spending accounts for 17 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, and it's rising rapidly," said Joan Verplanck, president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, in the release. "If we don't get costs under control, the stress on our economy may be insurmountable. Reform is in everyone's interest, but it must be done smart and it must be done right."
