Nancy L. Johnson: “tonight I will be holding a special order on the economic implications of an employer mandate in health care reform. I…”

“tonight I will be holding a special order on the economic implications of an employer mandate in health care reform. I believe this is one of the most critical issues involved in the health care reform debate. For that reason, I along with several of my colleagues will discuss the very serious economic and health care cost containment implications of requiring America's employers to finance health care reform. Tonight we will look at the significant job losses the American worker can expect if an employer mandate, similar to the administration's or the mandate included in the Stark proposal, were to pass this Congress. We will also discuss the very serious disincentives an employer mandate would have on job creation and job growth among small employers. We will look very closely at the serious impact an employer mandate would have on the ability of women to enter into our work force and, more importantly, on their ability to expand upon the very real gains they have made recently in creating new businesses. Finally, we will focus on the real world experiences of American businesses successfully managing their health care costs, much more effectively than the Congress has managed the costs of public programs. An employer mandate would completely eliminate the most promising means of restraining cost increases and replace it with a system that has already proven itself as an utter failure in providing high quality cost effective care.”