Business, once an ally, now stands against Republicans on health reform

The Wall Street Journal reports that big business, a longtime ally of Republicans in the health care reform fight, is feeling distance from the party over soaring costs and their bottom lines.

"But the health-care debate, in particular, casts a spotlight on the split in the longstanding alliance between economic conservatives and the business community. Republican lawmakers are digging in to oppose the overhaul effort as a big-spending government intrusion. Many companies, on the other hand, cite soaring costs to explain why they continue to back the congressional work under way to revamp the health-care system, despite misgivings over a range of provisions."

Although many business interests over the summer rejected the House Democrats' health overhaul legislation, which includes an employer mandate to provide coverage, "companies have been far more receptive to the plan released last week by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. The Baucus bill, which the committee is now busy amending, wouldn't include an employer mandate. It proposes a national exchange where individuals and small businesses could purchase insurance" (King, 9/25).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.