PA Chamber member companies voluntarily provide health-care coverage for millions of workers and their families in the face of record cost increases because they know that access to care is vital to the health of their employees and Pennsylvania's communities.

But business is understandably concerned about the cost of health care and the impact on job creators' competitive standing. According to the PA Chamber's 19th Annual Economic Survey, 93 percent of respondents listed health-care costs as a deterrent to job creation and growth, with 73 percent of that amount calling costs a major deterrent.

As such, PA Chamber members share Congress' goal of reducing health-care costs, improving quality and extending coverage to more Americans, and support meaningful reforms that advance these objectives while preserving private-sector coverage.

In a letter to Congress, PA Chamber President Floyd Warner stressed that improvements to health-care access and affordability can and must be made without stifling the innovations that have made the U.S. health-care system the finest in the world.

Drastic changes under consideration in Congress – employer and employee insurance mandates; a costly new government-run health plan, or “public option;” and taxes on employers and employees – are major concerns to the Commonwealth's job creators.

While Pennsylvania businesses are dedicated to health reform that focuses on reducing costs and improving access for the uninsured, they remain opposed to proposals, such as a public option, that will achieve neither of these goals.

The PA Chamber urged Congress to reject drastic changes to health-care that threaten private-sector coverage, and offered a number meaningful options that would help improve the system.