Michael Burgess: “How many times did we hear during this past year, year and a half, ``If you like what you have, you can keep it''…”

“How many times did we hear during this past year, year and a half, ``If you like what you have, you can keep it''-- talking about health insurance, talking about your doctor. We even heard the Presidential candidate of 2008 who eventually won the Presidency, ``If you like your doctor, if you like your insurance company, nothing about my law will require you to change that.'' But now we're finding out an entirely different story. Published on CNN Money, published in Fortune magazine this past week, ``Many companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying a penalty in fees to the government.'' Consider this, from CNN Money on May 6: ``Internal documents recently reviewed by Fortune, originally requested by Congress, shows what the bill's critics predicted and what its champions dreaded: Many large companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping health care coverage they provide to their workers.'' A large company that employs 300,000 employees spends $2.4 billion a year on health care coverage. That figure would drop if they simply paid the fines to $600 million. $2.4 billion to $600 million. What choice are they going to make?”