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Pro-business group urges rethink on health care

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor November 11, 2009 05:41 PM


A business-friendly group said this afternoon that on Thursday it will launch a $10 million nationwide TV ad blitz warning against doing too much, too fast on the health care overhaul.

The Employment Policies Institute joins the US Chamber of Commerce and others weighing in against the legislation that Democrats are trying to push through Congress and to President Obama's desk.

The ad -- to air before likely like-minded viewers on Fox News Channel as well as CNN and CNBC -- features June O’Neill, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, arguing that the bill would deepen the national debt and hurt job creation.

"Our country is facing an enormous debt crisis. Many of the plans to reform health care will make this crisis worse. As an economist and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, I’m deeply concerned about these health care reforms," she says in the ad.

"They will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the already $12 trillion national debt. We are paying $500 million a day in interest alone. This growing debt is unsustainable. It will have huge negative effects on jobs, taxes and our economy. Unfortunately, some politicians are using accounting gimmicks to hide the cost of these changes. And many seniors on Medicare will pay the price. Changes are necessary. But I fear these reforms are definitely not the answer."

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Reports from Boston Globe reporters and editors about the Obama administration, the Massachusetts congressional delegation, and other national political happenings.

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