The Honorable Jim Webb
248 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Mark Warner
459A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Webb and Warner:

On behalf of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce and our 1,200 members and their employees, I wish to express our opposition to the health insurance system proposals being advanced by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The Loudoun County Chamber believes firmly that America’s health insurance system is in desperate need of reform. America’s employers provide health insurance to more than 160 million of our citizens and have a significant stake in ensuring Congress adopts legislation that will reduce the health care costs while increasing access to quality medical services.

That is why the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce supports initiatives to build a robust private insurance marketplace for consumers and small businesses, while expanding coverage for uninsured Americans who cannot afford private insurance nor qualify for government programs. The Loudoun Chamber also backs the expanded use of medical technology to save lives and costs, along with a focused, nationwide emphasis on prevention and wellness. Legitimate health insurance reform also requires real Medical Liability Reform that will eliminate wasteful lawsuits that bleed money from our health care system without improving access, quality or coverage.

Finally, the Loudoun County Chamber strongly believes that any proposal must not threaten America’s already struggling businesses with increased costs, taxes, mandates and regulatory burdens.

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee's "America's Healthy Future Act" offers some positive reforms to America’s grossly expensive and administratively burdensome health insurance system. These include proposals to streamline regulations, allow national health plans that avoid costly state mandates and the creation of health insurance exchanges where consumers can shop plans based on price, quality and their specific needs.

Unfortunately, the Senate plan is burdened with bad ideas, such as mandates that force employers to provide coverage under a “pay-or-play” scheme, imposes an array of costly new taxes and fees, creates an unaffordable new entitlement and ignores Medical Liability Reform.

Worse still is the House of Representative’s approach, H.R. 3962 the “Affordable Health Care for America Act,” which fails to achieve any of the important objectives outlined for health insurance reform. The bill explodes government spending, costing more than $1.1 trillion over the next decade, plus the $250 billion cost of adjusting Medicare reimbursements, further exploding the total cost. The bill also imposes a 5.4% Federal income surtax on successful small businesses and a variety of taxes on medical devices, small business transactions, payroll and the uninsured.

The legislation also proposes measures that would destabilize the private insurance market, imposes the “pay-or-play” mandate on employers and not only ignores Medical Liability Reform, but actually attempts to punish states that try to control costs by capping attorney fees.

The Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce proudly stands with business associations across the Commonwealth to implore our Federal representatives to work toward bipartisan health care reform that will lower costs, increase coverage of the uninsured and make health care more accessible to all Virginians.

I thank you for considering the perspective of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce on this critical economic and quality of life issue, and offer our assistance to your efforts to achieve the priorities outlined above.

Respectfully,

Anthony J. Howard
President & CEO


cc: Virginia’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation