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Thursday, September 23, 1999Chamber: Boehner Bill Moves
Health Care Reform In Right Direction For Business
WASHINGTON --
The United States Chamber of Commerce today called a health care
reform proposal offered by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) a reasoned
approach to health care reform that improves quality of care and
expands access to coverage for the 25 million uninsured who work for
small businesses.
The nation’s
leading business organization contrasted Boehner’s efforts with
several other Congressional health care proposals that would saddle
business with costly new mandates and expanded liability,
accelerating the numbers of uninsured Americans.
"This proposal
goes a long way to addressing the concerns of both employees and
employers about quality of care, access and affordability without
costly mandates and new lawsuits," Chamber Executive Vice President
Bruce Josten said.
Chamber
Challenges AMA to Support Medical Malpractice Reform
"In fact, this
is the only major initiative that has included the crucial medical
malpractice liability reform," Josten added. "This has been a major
priority for both doctors and businesses who are truly interested in
real reform. Unfortunately, the recent debate has focused on adding
more lawsuits instead of fixing the existing liability system. The
American Medical Association needs to step up to the plate and get
behind doctors’ number priority – medical malpractice reform. This
bill does just that."
The Chamber
also applauded Boehner’s effort to improve access to health care for
small businesses and their employees by allowing pooled purchasing.
"Given that the majority of employees work for small businesses
today and health benefits are workers’ number one priority, it’s
unbelievable Congress hasn’t enacted this market-based reform
sooner," Josten said.
The Boehner
provisions on binding external review ensure that patients get the
most appropriate care -- when they need it, not after months and
years of litigation, Josten noted, concluding, "We look forward to
reviewing the full details of this proposal and working with the
Congress to make these needed changes to our health care
system."
The Chamber of
Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing
more than three million businesses and organizations of every size,
sector, and region.
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