[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 48 (Thursday, April 28, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     EMPLOYER MANDATE CONSEQUENCES

  (Mr. GUNDERSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUNDERSON. Mr. Speaker, as the colleague who just preceded me 
said, we do need health care reform. But one of the purposes of health 
care reform ought to be that we increase people's chances to get 
insurance, not decrease their chances of having a job. That is the 
problem with the President's proposal for an employer mandate.
  Coming from rural western Wisconsin, I can tell Members the story of 
the hardware store owner in one small town in my district who said, 
``Steve, I would love, if I had the volume and the revenue, to give all 
three people who work here health insurance. But the hard, cold reality 
is, in this small town, if you put that kind of a mandate on my 
business, instead of giving them insurance, I will have to eliminate 
their jobs. And when I go out on a repair run to one of my customers, I 
will simply lock the door and put a sign in the door that says, I will 
be back in 1 to 2 hours.''
  That is why I hope this Congress is, as we week to increase the 
people's availability for health insurance, will understand an employer 
mandate does not gain people insurance. It costs them their job.

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