D.C. Employers: ObamaCare ‘Exchange’ an ‘Undefined, Untested, More Expensive Entity’ Offering ‘Standardized, Cookie‐Cutter Coverage’
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:
- ACDI/VOCA
- AIDS United
- Allen & Associates
- Alliance Insurance Services
- American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists
- American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.
- American Bakers Association
- American Cleaning Institute
- American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
- American Immigration Lawyers Association
- American Insurance Association
- American Road & Transportation Builders Association
- American Society of Association Executives
- Andre Chreky, the salon spa
- Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington
- Ashcraft & Gerel LLP
- Association for Competitive Technology
- Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
- Axar Management
- Beacon Consulting Group, Inc.
- Blue House Design
- Bogart
- Brady Campaign and Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence
- Brawner Management, LLC
- Building Owners and Managers Association International
- Capital Medical Associates
- Center for Constitutional Litigation, P.C.
- Center for Nonprofit Advancement
- CGH Technologies, Inc.
- Chef Geoff’s
- Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind
- Combined Properties, Incorporated
- Communications Development
- Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area
- David All Group
- DC Chamber of Commerce
- Development Gateway, Inc.
- Distilled Spirits Council
- Elizabeth M. Ross and Kenneth M.H. Lee, M.D., P.C.
- Entertainment Software Association
- Environmental Law Institute
- EOP Group, Inc.
- Euroconsultants, Inc.
- Federation of American Hospitals
- Good Neighbors, LLC
- Government Accountability Project
- Hemsley Fraser Group
- High Noon Communications
- History Matters
- Howard Eales, Inc.
- Howard W. Phillips & Co.
- ICI Mutual Insurance Company
- Innovators Network Foundation
- Interstate Natural Gas Association of America
- J. Todd Miller & Associates, Inc.
- Kaludis Consulting Group, Inc.
- Katz, Marshall & Banks LLP
- Knightsbridge Restaurant Group
- LEVICK
- LimeLeap Solutions
- Marvin A. Address & Associates, Inc.
- McBride Real Estate
- McClendon Center
- MCLA Inc.
- Metro TeenAIDS
- Metropolitan Washington Road & Transportation Builders
- Miller & Shook Companies
- National Association for Gifted Children
- National Association of Health Underwriters
- National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
- National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
- National Council for Interior Design Qualification
- National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association
- National Mining Association
- National Propane Gas Association
- Navista, Inc.
- NetChoice
- Pacific Cargoes
- Park Limited
- Passion Food Hospitality
- Promundo-US
- Radio Television Digital News Association / Foundation
- Regis & Asociates, PC
- Reiter & Hill
- Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington
- RULG-Ukranian Legal Group, P.A.
- Sabin Vaccine Institute
- Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates
- Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP
- The Council for Responsible Nutrition
- The Episcopal Center for Children
- The Farm Credit Council
- The Ford Agency, Inc.
- The Gabriel Company, LLC
- The Prime Rib, Inc.
- Timothy A. Price, MD, PC
- Triad Communication / TRC Real Estate
- U.S. Grains Council
- U.S. Soccer Foundation
- United Fresh Produce Association
- Vinyl Siding Institute, Inc.
- Vogel, Slade & Goldstein, LLP
- Waterman and Associates
- Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
- Widmeyer Communications
- Appleseed Foundation
- Atelier Architects
- Bockorny Group
- Bond & Pecaro
- Bonner, Kiernan, Trebach & Crociata
- Bonstra Haresign Architects
- Capitol Process Services, Inc.
- Carr Workplaces
- Casey Trees
- Clement's Pastry Shop
- Communications Development Incorporated
- Computer World Services
- Colonnade Condos
- Compressus
- Environmental Design & Construction
- The Fund for American Studies
- Fund for Global Human Rights
- Futures Industry Association
- Hartman-Cox Architects
- Hecht, Spencer and Associates
- The Herald Group
- I. Gorman Jewelers
- International Center for Research on Women
- International Dairy Foods Association
- International Franchise Association
- James E. Brown & Associates, PLLC
- Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital
- Jewish Women International
- King Branson LLC
- Land Trust Alliance
- Law Resources
- MAG America
- Man-Machine Systems Assessment, Inc.
- McBee Strategic
- McBride Real Estate Services
- Medical Device Manufacturers Association
- Medical Society of the District of Columbia
- Metropolitan Engineering, Inc. | Shapiro – O’Brien
- National Institute of Building Sciences
- North American Millers' Association
- North American Securities Administrators Association
- Pascal & Weiss, P.C.
- Poker Players Alliance
- Potomac Communications Group, Inc.
- Public Properties
- Rust Insurance Agency, LLC
- Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access
- Salsa Labs
- Society of the Plastics Industry
- Springboard Enterprises
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
- The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars
- 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."
