Speaker of the House John Boehner said Wednesday that if he were an employer he would be sitting on his hands and wallet waiting for the picture to clear about the Affordable Care Act.
Speaking at a policy forum in Washington, Boehner (R-Ohio) said that health care reform is a major issue facing employers.
“There are lots of questions about [the] employer response and no answers coming from the administration,” because many of the rules still haven’t been written, he said at the forum, sponsored by the law firm BakerHostetler.
Also at the conference, Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisc.) said that while many members of Congress are talking repeal of the legislation, that should not be the focus right now. Rather, he said, talk should center on the changes that need to take place.
Kind said that his fellow members of Congress should recognize the ACA is the
Noting that rising health care costs are a serious problem, Kind said the ACA, while not a perfect bill, will begin to change how health care is delivered and ultimately will achieve the “golden grail” of changing the financial incentives within the health care system.
However, speaking later at the forum, Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) said that he believes “the new health care law will dilute the quality of care and decrease financial incentives. … In general, government mandates, I don’t believe, help increase quality or decrease cost.”
Further, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 2012 election, said that the country needs to come up with a health care system that “actually” works and not a “government price control system.”
