[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 23345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   EMPLOYER LIABILITY IN HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, Congress will soon consider the issue of 
employer liability in the concern with healthcare. As a small business 
owner myself with 200 employees, the decision is simple. If faced with 
the slimmest possibility of being sued for voluntarily providing health 
care to my employees, I will stop providing such benefits and give them 
the cash equivalent.

  I will not be alone. Recently a poll of small business owners found 
that 57 percent of small businesses would drop health care coverage for 
employees if employer liability was increased. This potentially could 
lead to the end of employer-based health care and leave tens of 
millions of people without health care coverage.

  H.R. 2926, the CARE Act, would ensure patients' rights without 
exposing employers to lawsuits for voluntarily providing health care 
and benefits to their employees. The CARE Act also allows small 
employers to band together to provide health care benefits for their 
employees by pooling their purchasing power in a new association health 
plan. This provision would create affordable access to health care for 
millions.

  Let small business and employers continue to provide health care 
benefits to the American workforce. Vote for 2926.

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