NRF urges House rejection of healthcare bill

WASHINGTON The National Retail Federation announced that it has asked lawmakers to reject healthcare reform legislation expected to receive a vote in the House this weekend, saying the measure would drive up labor costs to the point of forcing job losses and that a “transparent procedural ploy” for passing the package would harm Congress’ reputation.

“NRF has worked tirelessly to promote effective healthcare reforms that would lower the cost of medical care and expand access to coverage,” NRF SVP for government relations Steve Pfister said. “We are disappointed by the direction of the congressional debate, particularly its punitive focus against employers. It is an economic certainty that if labor costs significantly increase, retailers – who operate on razor-thin profit margins – will have no choice but to reduce the size of their work forces. This is an outright tax on jobs, a dangerous strategy when our economy so clearly needs to grow through job creation. Health care reform in its current form will become the biggest anti-stimulus legislation imaginable.”

The House is expected to vote as soon as Sunday on whether to send H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – the healthcare bill passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve – to President Obama for his signature.

Pfister said NRF strongly opposes the Senate legislation because of its lack of greater and more immediate cost savings for employer-sponsored healthcare coverage, its conditional mandate for employers to provide insurance coverage to full-time workers, and higher taxes that would pass through to both employers and consumers, among other reasons.