Small Businesses Under Siege Due to Obamacare (June 2010) PDF Print

Knowing your interest in health care, I want to let you know that I took part in a forum today that examined the recently enacted health care law and its consequences for job creators.  The event was held by the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group in partnership with the groundbreaking America Speaking Out initiative.  America Speaking Out is designed to give the American people a voice in the creation of a new governing agenda for Congress.  I heard testimony from Bruce Josten from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth, and Joe Clements, a Burger King Franchisee Owner from Louisiana.  During the forum, the discussion ranged from the extremely damaging impact Obamacare will have on job creation and our economy to alternative approaches to expand access to health care.  As you may know, I recently introduced legislation to repeal Obamacare and replace it with commonsense solutions that will lower health care premiums by up to 20%. 

Unfortunately, today’s discussion was yet another eye-opening illustration of the looming devastation on our economy due to Obamacare.  Each of the witnesses testified about the damage that this government takeover of health care will have on American jobs.  In particular Mr. Clements, a small business owner, powerfully lamented that he will have to stop offering health coverage, cut employees’ hours, and lay off workers in order to comply with Obamacare’s unconstitutional mandates.  During such a difficult economic downturn, with unemployment at nearly 10% nationwide, it is unacceptable to implement policies that will hurt job creators and significantly hinder job creation in this country. 

We need commonsense solutions that will lower costs and level the playing field for smaller businesses.  Mr. Clements spoke of the need to be able to replace Obamacare’s job-killing taxes and regulations with real solutions and offered his support for allowing small businesses to join together to purchase health coverage on the same terms as large employers.  He indicated that this reform would do a great deal to improve choice and lower costs for his employees. My legislation would repeal and replace Obamacare with incremental commonsense solutions  that include the very provisions Mr. Clements talked about to help small business owners save money on their health care costs so they can get back to creating jobs.