The Washington Post’s Dan Eggen has a pretty good blog summary of a conference call conducted by members of Employers for a Healthy Economy, a business coalition to which the National Association of Manufacturers belongs. The group is running ads critical of President Obama’s health care plan, or, as the headine writer puts it, “Business groups plan TV assault on Obama health-care plan.”

It’s not “Force 10 from Navaronne,” you know. They’re just cable ads.

Eggen reports:

A coalition of major business groups said Tuesday that it will spend as much as $10 million on television ads over the next 10 days attacking President Obama’s health-care reform plans, arguing that legislation under debate in Congress will be too costly for small employers and will kill jobs at a time of economic distress.

He also quotes the NAM’s point person on the issue.

Jeri Kubicki, vice president of human resources policy at the NAM, said the legislation does not go far enough in controlling costs and will burdening small businesses with additional taxes and regulations. “Unfortunately, our members think the core of this debate has centered on expanding access as opposed to controlling costs,” Kubicki said. “We want to start over.”

That’s right.

Unfortunately, the White House’s communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, does not engage those points in a blog post he put this afternoon, “Putting American Workers and Small Businesses in Charge of Their Own Health Care Coverage.” His argument is that those who disagree with the legislation are bad actors in league with the greedy insurance industry.

[The] Chamber of Commerce, which we already know has also run anti-reform ads funded by the insurance industry, is holding a conference call today with executives from a handful of industries to lay out to discuss their plans to try to block reform.

Over the coming days, you’ll hear a lot of noise from opponents of reform who are desperately trying to protect a system that earns billions in profits while rates climb so high that many Americans can’t afford coverage.

The NAM doesn’t really care about the insurance industry. Our member companies have been hammered by rising health care costs, often double-digit increases in premiums every year, and believe the current health care bills being considered by Congress do too little to control costs.

Here is the statement issued by NAM President John Engler on Feb. 22 when the President released his latest version of the health care bill. It’s not noise, but rather a clear statement of why the legislation is flawed. The issues warrant a more serious response than a campaign-style attack. 

We are disappointed that the President’s proposal includes hundreds of billions in new taxes and fees but does nothing to contain costs for America’s manufacturers and job creators. Health care reform needs to be first and foremost about reducing costs, not adding burdensome new costs and taxes on employers. Manufacturers want the health care debate to move forward, but with a focus on long-term savings that will make health care more affordable for everyone.

The President’s proposal appears to largely embrace the Senate legislation which includes significant tax increases on America’s job creators. Manufacturers believe health care reform should focus instead on reducing costs, improving access and preserving what is working in the current system. (continue reading…)

From Employers for a Healthy Economy, to which the National Association of Manufacturers belongs, a TV spot that is running on cable noting the numerous hidden taxes in pending health care legislation:

USA TODAY, “Health care ad focused on taxes.” The blog post says the taxes aren’t “hidden” per se, but are really just controversial. Perhaps. But does the public really know about the taxes on medical devices, insurance plans, or even tanning services?

True, compared to the intraparty negotiations over the actual legislation, the taxes are a paragon of transparency.

The National Association of Manufacturers is a member of the broad-based coalition, Employers for a Healthy Economy, representing major business trade associations that oppose the current health care bills in Congress. The coalition has just started running three new ads in response to House passage on Saturday of the H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

The national ad is “Skyrocket,” which you can see here.

The other ads either thank House members for voting against the bill or asking voters to contact the Representatives who voted yes to inform them of their mistake.

You can see the ads at the Employers for a Healthy Economy YouTube page here.

The news release with texts of the ads is the extended entry. (continue reading…)

Here’s the ad, “Millions,” being run in 19 states and 46 media markets by Employers for a Healthy Economy, a coalition of employer groups including the National Association of Manufacturers.

SCRIPT:

The highest unemployment in twenty-five years.

And Congress’ latest health care bill makes a tough economy worse.

Over five hundred billion in crushing tax increases but nothing to control rising health care costs.

EXPENSIVE new mandates on business that could wipe out EVEN MORE JOBS.

Call Congress. Tell them the new health care bill is a bill America can’t afford to pay.

News release: “Business Coalition Launches Ad Campaign Targeting House Health Care Bill”

Neil Trautwein of the National Retail Federation has a good blog post on the campaign and the House health bill, “Employers for a healthy economy.” Excerpt:

We have our own ideas for health care reform – but think Congress would do well to pull back from the abyss and take a more measured approach. If Congress could succeed in reducing the cost of health care and hence health coverage, both public and private, that would be a tremendous accomplishment. It is important to reduce spending on governmental programs like Medicare and Medicaid, but it is not sufficient to do so. Private premiums paid by companies and individuals must also go down … or otherwise, coverage will never go up. It’s economics at the most basic and personal level.