Retail Leaders Call Senate Health Care Bill ‘Terribly Flawed’ 

The Senate health care reform legislation will undermine the quality and affordable health care RILA members offer their employees and will stifle retail job growth for years to come, said the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).

John Emling, RILA’s senior vice president for government affairs offered the following statement outlining the association’s opposition to the Senate bill.

“RILA and its member companies have actively supported and constructively engaged in the effort to craft meaningful reform of America’s health care system to reduce costs and expand coverage to more Americans. Despite this sincere effort, Senate negotiators have chosen to ignore the warnings of employers and instead produce a bill that will harm, not help, our members’ ability to continue to offer their employees quality, affordable health care coverage.

“The legislation emerging from closed-door Senate negotiations will dramatically increase costs, undermine plan design flexibility and force retail employees from the health care plans they currently know and like. What’s more, the billions of dollars in new costs could undermine retail industry job growth at a time when job retention and job creation must be our top priority.

“RILA members currently provide benefits to millions of employees and their families. In order to do so, they rely upon their ability under current law to design quality and affordable plans that reflect their unique workforce.
 
“Although we remain hopeful that a meaningful health care reform package can be crafted, the Senate legislation is terribly flawed and falls dreadfully short of our shared goal of reducing the unsustainable costs employers and their employees face.  For these reasons, RILA opposes the Senate bill and urge Senators to oppose cloture.”

Among RILA’s chief concerns are provisions within the Senate bill that would reduce benefit design flexibility and innovation, force employers to enroll new employees within 60 days of hire, a provision that would be particularly harmful to high turnover industries, and the bill’s inadequate definition for full-time employees.

RILA is the trade association of the world’s largest and most innovative retail companies.  RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and operate more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

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