Business Roundtable Expresses Strong Concerns About House Bill.

WASHINGTON -- "While we cannot support the version of the House health care reform bill that Speaker Pelosi has brought to the floor, we're still committed to working with Congress and President Obama to create health care reform that will protect the coverage American workers and their families enjoy today, while reducing costs and significantly improving the delivery of medical care.

"Our primary concern with the House bill is the inclusion of a public option, which will simply shift - rather than reduce - costs and will stifle the innovation that we need to continue improving our health care system. Instead of a public option, we believe that there can be greater competition by expanding the marketplace and getting more private plans to compete with new insurance market rules.

"We are also concerned about the employer mandate included in the bill. This mandate limits employer flexibility, eroding ERISA. We must preserve ERISA, which is the foundation for our employer based system that insures 177 million Americans.

"As we pursue reform, we should not undermine the valuable coverage that the majority of Americans have. The public option and employer mandate in the House bill would do just that. 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," 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 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.

Business Roundtable companies provide health care coverage to more than 35 million employees, retirees and their families.

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