Tennessee’s newest members of Congress are preparing to vote today to honor their campaign pledge to try to repeal the health care reform law adopted by the previous Congress.
In his first speech on the floor of the U.S. House on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., cited estimates by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation that the employer mandate in the new law could lead to a loss of 1.6 million jobs.
“As a small-business owner for the past 24 years, I know first-hand the kind of damage this legislation would do to American small business if it is allowed to be put into place,” said Fleischmann, a Chattanooga attorney elected in November to succeed 16-year incumbent Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.
But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said most of the job losses would come from people who no longer have to work, or can downshift to less demanding employment, because insurance will be available outside the job.
U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., a Jasper physician who defeated Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., said Tennessee’s experience with TennCare showed the problems with expanding government health care coverage and that the new health care law will force rationing of care for patients.