As an unpaid volunteer, I worked with over 100 Henry County small businesses, meeting in Henry County Chamber offices for mentoring purposes. I also ran a chamber in Georgia for a short time after retirement. I’ve found local Chambers to be a true local asset, managed by fine people responsive to community needs. But local Chambers have little in common with the US Chamber.

  The US Chamber of Commerce CEO (Tom Donohue) strongly opposes Medicare expansion to cover all. Medicare for all is the right thing for the USA, but it has a lot of special interests opposing it. And, the crusading against it … driven by lobbyist money …  has already begun.

  As a healthcare professional … which the US Chamber CEO clearly is not … his misleading assertion that single payer government healthcare “just doesn’t work” is ludicrous and non-factual. He’s clearly ignoring the needs of small businesses, including those in Henry County, in favor of the massive corporate interests paying his salary.

  Mr. Donohue, it’s not the 1950s anymore. We already have single payer, Medicare, approved by a bi-partisan vote. And, it works very well. But, because special interest money is driving the legislative process, it’s restricted to those over 65.

  With an overhead of 2%, Medicare is far more effective than private insurance, which averages 12% in overhead and marketing costs. Almost all providers happily accept it, including the two private hospital chains that I worked for in the past. And, yes, I am a vocal capitalist … but one willing to acknowledge the rare instance when government provision of a service is more effective than the private sector. Further, those covered by single payer are happier than those covered by private insurance (Gallup, 11-6-15).

  Private insurance companies simply don’t like the actuarial risk associated with small versus large firms, so the premiums for smaller companies are out of sight. And, going up every year, with part of the cost increases being passed on to employees.

  Correspondingly, I’ve found that one of the biggest problems for the hundreds of small start-ups that I mentor is obtaining reasonably priced health insurance for their employees. Another reason is that the majority of their owners are over 55, a group that has an 85% rate of pre-existing conditions (USA Today, 7-19-17).

  Therefore, many start-ups decide to just forgo insurance. That mistaken action becomes a very risky role of the dice, betting that their employees will have no unforeseen major illnesses, like cancer, stroke or heart attack.

  By having government automatically provide insurance for all (funded equitably regardless of a firm’s size), this major barrier to business entry is removed. Thus, single payer will clearly promote the growth of new business, period.

  I understand that the US Chamber CEO runs an organization that spent $82 million on lobbying in 2017. He’s beholden to special interests, which includes major healthcare providers, drug companies and insurance companies. All have a vested interest in seeing that things stay exactly the way that they are regarding health insurance.

  A Washington Post article (7-10) detailed how the AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) gave the Chamber $86 million in lobbying funds in 2009 to kill Obamacare, including the “public option” which would have permitted individuals to “opt into” Medicare. At the time, their argument was that the public option would be unfair to private insurance companies.

  Think about it. Private companies unable to compete on price and service with a public healthcare plan. So much for the Donahue assertion that government insurance “doesn’t work.” It’s obvious from their own actions that Medicare works all too well.

  For that matter, compare the US with other developed nations, all of which have much greater governmental involvement (OECD studies). Our per capita cost is much higher than any of them, double France and triple Italy’s. And, their morbidity and mortality rates are better.

  I sincerely hope that Mr. Donahue will reconsider his position, which clearly harms up and coming enterprises, and spend his organization’s lobbying money more wisely in order to help small businesses rather than the special interests of huge healthcare corporations.   Medicare for all is good for America, its business community and its taxpayers. If we can afford Medicare for seniors, we can afford it for everyone, including all Henry County residents.