“We are disappointed by Senate Majority Leader Reid's decision to include a national public health care plan in the merged health care bill.
“The public plan option will not only shrink the pool of individuals covered by private insurance, but it will siphon off those who are most needed to create balanced risk pools. To keep costs low, the public plan will also reimburse providers at a sub-market rate. Taken together, these two effects will exacerbate the cost shift to businesses, providers and insurers alike, creating an unsustainable system.
“In addition, since it is driven by cost, the public plan will have no incentive to explore and implement new treatments and technologies that improve the quality of care. In contrast, the private market has the flexibility to do just that, improving care for all.
“We have been working closely with the Senate to get this bill right. Unfortunately, the inclusion of the public plan option takes reform in the wrong direction. We remain committed to working with Congress and the White House to get health care reform that expands access to coverage for all Americans and achieves real and permanent cost cuts in the system, without simply shifting those costs to the private sector,” said John J. Castellani, President of Business Roundtable.
Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with nearly $6 trillion in annual revenues and more than 12 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and pay more than 60 percent of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Annually, they return more than $167 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy.
Business Roundtable companies provide health care coverage to more than 35 million employees, retirees and their families.
Business Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with more than $111 billion in annual research and development spending - nearly half of all total private R&D spending in the U.S.
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Contacts:
Business Roundtable
Kirk Monroe, 202-496-3269
