On June 16^th the United States Chamber of Commerce submitted a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Senators Edward Kennedy and Michael Enzi, opposing the “Affordable Health Choices Act”. The letter states that, “Creating a new government-run insurance plan, whether based on Medicare, run by an appointed panel, backed by entitlement funding, or created in some other way, would lead to serious adverse consequences for employer-sponsored health insurance, and must not be included in legislation.” On the very same day the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent the letter to Senators Kennedy and Enzi strenuously rejecting a government-run insurance plan, a New York Times/CBS News poll (as explained by Kevin Sack and Majorie Connelly in their New York Times article “In Poll, Wide Support For Government Health”) found that seventy two percent of Americans support a, “government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — that would compete for customers with private insurers.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce letter goes on to gloat, “Employers currently provide health insurance benefits voluntarily to more than 160 million Americans.” Sadly, the letter fails to mention that over eight in ten uninsured people come from working class families and that nearly forty percent of the uninsured population resides in households that earn $50,000 or more. These numbers clearly indicate that an employer based health care system has been a dismal failure for the average American.

As the health care debate moves forward our elected representatives are going to have to face a moral dilemma: do they worry about preserving the health insurance business and others who currently profit off of the existing health care system, or do they side with the 46 million Americans under the age of 65 (including over 8.1 million children) who have no health care coverage?  While the dilemma above seems clear, the Republicans in Congress who are so fervently fighting a government-run health insurance alternative, backed by conservative organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, seem to have more sympathy for wealthy insurance executives than the uninsured working-class American family.

As the health care debate continues to grow more intense over the coming months, I truly hope the Democrats in Congress, backed by the American people, insist that universal health care in the richest nation in the world is a non-negotiable idea. Yet, with organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (which is known for spending more money per annum than any other lobbying association) in the fight, it is unclear that politicians will have the strength and the determination to do what is right. Let us hope that for once Congress ignores the lobbying money, and instead fights, as the beginning of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s mission statement so ironically states, “To advance human progress…”

Sean McBride has a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently doing monitoring and evaluation work on education and CSR projects in Johannesburg, South Africa.

More Info

United States Chamber of Commerce letter opposing the “Affordable Heath Choices Act”

National Coalition on Health Care’s, “Facts About Health Care”

Kevin Sack’s and Majorie Connelly’s New York Times’ article, “In Poll, Wide Support For Government Health”

Rober Pear’s and David M. Herszenhorn’s New York Times’ article, “House Unveils Health Bill, Minus Key Details”