More than 150 local employers have written a letter to the District’s ObamaCare board, protesting the destruction of D.C.’s individual and small-group health insurance markets:

Those of us who may have had doubts about the health reform law were comforted by President Obama’s repeated assurances that, “If you like your health plan…you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period.” But, by dismantling and recasting the separate health insurance marketplaces that serve small employer groups and individuals in the District, D.C. policymakers would take away the option of keeping the health plan that they now have. Rather, to continue to offer health benefits to employees after 2013, small employers like us would have no choice but to go to an undefined, untested, more expensive entity to obtain coverage. Especially in these uncertain economic times, many employers, and their workers, must be given the time to adjust their budgets for the estimated price increases of the Exchange. In addition, many of us have long-established relationships with health insurers we know and are guided by broker advisors who understand our unique needs. We do not want to be forced to buy the standardized, cookie-cutter coverage that would be offered through a government-run Exchange…

Indeed, forcing all consumers seeking Individual or Small Group health coverage to go to the Exchange to purchase health plans runs counter to the ACA’s essential promise of more – not less – choice…The diversity of small employer health plans currently available in the District cannot be replicated in the standardized plans offered by the Exchange. Small employers rely on choice amongst a wide array of health plans available in the current commercial marketplace and the flexibility to design contributions to complement each employer’s unique budgetary and financial situations…With the many changes that will be required of employers of all sizes under the new federal health care reform law, it seems unreasonable to add to those concerns by eliminating the commercial marketplace which we know for an undefined, unfamiliar and untested Exchange-driven marketplace.

In addition, we cannot ignore the significant costs of administering the Exchange which will undermine one of the key goals of the federal law - affordability.

Signatories include such notorious right-wing groups as the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence:

1. ACDI/VOCA
2. AIDS United
3. Allen & Associates
4. Alliance Insurance Services
5. American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists
6. American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.
7. American Bakers Association
8. American Cleaning Institute
9. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
10. American Immigration Lawyers Association
11. American Insurance Association
12. American Road & Transportation Builders Association
13. American Society of Association Executives
14. Andre Chreky, the salon spa
15. Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington
16. Ashcraft & Gerel LLP
17. Association for Competitive Technology
18. Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
19. Axar Management
20. Beacon Consulting Group, Inc.
21. Blue House Design
22. Bogart
23. Brady Campaign and Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence
24. Brawner Management, LLC
25. Building Owners and Managers Association International
26. Capital Medical Associates
27. Center for Constitutional Litigation, P.C.
28. Center for Nonprofit Advancement
29. CGH Technologies, Inc.
30. Chef Geoff’s
31. Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind
32. Combined Properties, Incorporated
33. Communications Development
34. Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area
35. David All Group
36. DC Chamber of Commerce
37. Development Gateway, Inc.
38. Distilled Spirits Council
39. Elizabeth M. Ross and Kenneth M.H. Lee, M.D., P.C.
40. Entertainment Software Association
41. Environmental Law Institute
42. EOP Group, Inc.
43. Euroconsultants, Inc.
44. Federation of American Hospitals
45. Good Neighbors, LLC
46. Government Accountability Project
47. Hemsley Fraser Group
48. High Noon Communications
49. History Matters
50. Howard Eales, Inc.
51. Howard W. Phillips & Co.
52. ICI Mutual Insurance Company
53. Innovators Network Foundation
54. Interstate Natural Gas Association of America
55. J. Todd Miller & Associates, Inc.
56. Kaludis Consulting Group, Inc.
57. Katz, Marshall & Banks LLP
58. Knightsbridge Restaurant Group
59. LEVICK
60. LimeLeap Solutions
61. Marvin A. Address & Associates, Inc.
62. McBride Real Estate
63. McClendon Center
64. MCLA Inc.
65. Metro TeenAIDS
66. Metropolitan Washington Road & Transportation Builders
67. Miller & Shook Companies
68. National Association for Gifted Children
69. National Association of Health Underwriters
70. National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
71. National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
72. National Council for Interior Design Qualification
73. National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association
74. National Mining Association
75. National Propane Gas Association
76. Navista, Inc.
77. NetChoice
78. Pacific Cargoes
79. Park Limited
80. Passion Food Hospitality
81. Promundo-US
82. Radio Television Digital News Association / Foundation
83. Regis & Asociates, PC
84. Reiter & Hill
85. Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington
86. RULG-Ukranian Legal Group, P.A.
87. Sabin Vaccine Institute
88. Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates
89. Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP
90. The Council for Responsible Nutrition
91. The Episcopal Center for Children
92. The Farm Credit Council
93. The Ford Agency, Inc.
94. The Gabriel Company, LLC
95. The Prime Rib, Inc.
96. Timothy A. Price, MD, PC
97. Triad Communication / TRC Real Estate
98. U.S. Grains Council
99. U.S. Soccer Foundation
100. United Fresh Produce Association
101. Vinyl Siding Institute, Inc.
102. Vogel, Slade & Goldstein, LLP
103. Waterman and Associates
104. Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
105. Widmeyer Communications
106. Appleseed Foundation
107. Atelier Architects
108. Bockorny Group
109. Bond & Pecaro
110. Bonner, Kiernan, Trebach & Crociata
111. Bonstra Haresign Architects
112. Capitol Process Services, Inc.
113. Carr Workplaces
114. Casey Trees
115. Clement’s Pastry Shop
116. Communications Development Incorporated
117. Computer World Services
118. Colonnade Condos
119. Compressus
120. Environmental Design & Construction
121. The Fund for American Studies
122. Fund for Global Human Rights
123. Futures Industry Association
124. Hartman-Cox Architects
125. Hecht, Spencer and Associates
126. The Herald Group
127. I. Gorman Jewelers
128. International Center for Research on Women
129. International Dairy Foods Association
130. International Franchise Association
131. James E. Brown & Associates, PLLC
132. Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital
133. Jewish Women International
134. King Branson LLC
135. Land Trust Alliance
136. Law Resources
137. MAG America
138. Man-Machine Systems Assessment, Inc.
139. McBee Strategic
140. McBride Real Estate Services
141. Medical Device Manufacturers Association
142. Medical Society of the District of Columbia
143. Metropolitan Engineering, Inc. | Shapiro – O’Brien
144. National Institute of Building Sciences
145. North American Millers’ Association
146. North American Securities Administrators Association
147. Pascal & Weiss, P.C.
148. Poker Players Alliance
149. Potomac Communications Group, Inc.
150. Public Properties
151. Rust Insurance Agency, LLC
152. Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access
153. Salsa Labs
154. Society of the Plastics Industry
155. Springboard Enterprises
156. Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
157. The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars
158. Washington Partners, LLC

One might add the Center for Science in the Public Interest, whose president emeritus complains, “the only option the board publicly considered has been this unpopular and unnecessary plan to close the private marketplace to many businesses.”