Area Chambers Stand Opposed to Health Care Reform Legislation
Posted in ICYMI, Press Releases Posted by Administrator on Dec 18, 2009Monroe News-Star
By Stephen Largen
December 17, 2009
“Three area chambers of commerce have come out against the Senate health care bill, signing on to a letter sent to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry asking her to reverse her pledge to support the bill…
All three area chambers decided to sign on to the letter based on either formal votes of or discussions with their boards of directors, which comprises members of each area’s business community.
‘There is a substantially high cost to this health care bill, and we just feel too much of the financial burden will fall on the business community,’ said Sue Nicholson, president and CEO of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce.
Nicholson said concern that the bill would negatively affect the region’s No. 1 industry, health care, played some role in the decision to oppose the Senate bill, but, ‘The bigger part was how health care reform will impact an individual business, and not just a medical business,’ she said…
‘The feeling we had was that, in many ways, it would be far better to look at many bills over a longer time (as a better approach to health-care reform),’ Nicholson said.
‘To push something rapidly, and at this particular time with the economy the way it is, this may not be the right thing to do.’
The letter to Landrieu was sent just a day after she said Tuesday she would support the Senate bill. Winning Landrieu’s support was considered crucial to passing the bill because Landrieu, a moderate, was one the final Democratic holdouts…
Scott Terry, president of the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, said his organization heard from members of the health insurance, financial and medical industries who told the chamber the bill would be bad for business.
‘Some of the things we know are probably going to happen are that the Senate bill will add a tremendous amount of cost to small business and will have an effect on a lot of our members who sell insurance,’ Terry said…”
Health reform will injure our system.