Picture this: It’s 1994, maybe you’re still rockin’ that side ponytail and fashionably ripped up hypercolor shirt. Ok, ok, maybe. But hey the Clinton administration has been in office for a little over a year and things are lookin’ up from those down years with President George Bush right? One of the main initiatives on the docket is the first lady’s very publicly backed “Hillarycare” health bill. See where I’m going with this?
Flash forward to 2009, a little under a year into the Obama Administration and we’re at it again. It’s arguable to say that perhaps Obama’s entire presidential legacy rides on one of his largest campaigning points that got him into office to begin with, healthcare reform. Details of the bill excluded, one thing that went wrong in ’94 that is rearing its ugly head again in ’09, could it be the possibility of the Democrats losing the support of the business class, in particular the Business Roundtable (an association of CEO’s from the largest companies in the United States).
With details of the bill becoming clearer and clearer by the day, the notion of Obamacare lowering healthcare costs for companies is starting to get a lot of attention. Well primarily the part about lowering costs, since the gigantic tax increase imposed upon these businesses should the bill pass in its current shape would end up costing companies more. With money being a hot commodity in today’s economy, it’s not so easy to try and pull the wool over someone’s eyes when there is a gigantic price tag attached to it. Seems as if someone let the cat out of the bag and the tide is swinging to lead businesses to voice their displeasure. Clinton was unable to get the business class on board in ’94 too.
Plain and simple, Business Roundtable companies sponsor health insurance for about 35 million employees and their families at this point. Employee wages would certainly take a hit as the companies shoulder the burden of the inflamed tax increase. Meanwhile in today’s climate, the U.S. already has some of the highest corporate tax rates in the world.
Wow enjoyed reading this blogpost. I submitted your feed to my google reader!