Chamber Of Commerce details its updated strategy to deal with health law trouble spots

Jan 10 2014

The Chamber's President and CEO Thomas Donohue vowed first and foremost to fight against the overhaul's employer mandate, but noted that in other cases the organization will work to fix flaws rather than repeal the measure.

Fox News: Chamber Of Commerce Vows To Fight Obamacare Employer Mandate In 2014
The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce vowed Wednesday to fight Obamacare's so-called employer mandate and other "onerous" provisions in the year ahead, even as the pro-business group acknowledged the bill as a whole cannot be repealed in the current climate.  The agenda was outlined by Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue, in his annual Washington address. Though the law's requirement on mid-sized and large businesses to provide health coverage to workers was delayed by a year, Donohue said the Chamber still plans to lobby against that mandate in 2014 (1/8).

Modern Healthcare: U.S. Chamber Looks To Fix, Not Repeal Obamacare
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has accepted that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is here to stay and, rather than continue calling for its complete repeal, will work this year to change what it sees as flaws in the 2010 law, the business group's president and CEO said Wednesday. Outlining the chamber's 2014 priorities, Thomas Donohue, the group's president and CEO, sounded realistic about the statute that his organization had once wanted Congress to repeal and that Donohue said posed the single greatest threat to the future of American enterprise (Zigmond, 1/8).

CQ HealthBeat: U.S. Chamber Address Labels Entitlements The 'Big, Smelly Elephant In The Room'
Tom Donohue saved the most vivid image of his annual address on U.S. Chamber of Commerce priorities for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security Wednesday, calling entitlements "the big smelly elephant in the room" that President Barack Obama and members of Congress don't want to talk about (Reichard, 1/8).