Small Businesses Cannot Afford The Status Quo In Health Care

Floor Speech

Small Businesses Cannot Afford The Status Quo In Health Care

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. Speaker, I just held a roundtable in my district to hear from small business owners on how they feel about health care reform. Each of the small business owners agreed that the system is broken and that keeping the status quo will only hurt small businesses in New Mexico.

With skyrocketing health care costs, many of these small businesses have been forced to consider layoffs and have been forced to consider lowering wages. In some cases, discontinuing insurance coverage for their employees has been the only way to avoid going out of business.

There is no doubt that our broken health care system is bad for America's small businesses. We can, and we must do better. We need a long-term, viable solution that creates stability, that prevents insurance companies from cherry-picking customers and businesses. We need a solution that supports a healthy workforce and that improves employee productivity. Now is the time to reform our health care system. Our small businesses cannot afford the status quo.

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