Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Endorses Governor Schwarzenegger's Health Car...( SACRAMENTO Calif. Sept. 17 -- Th...),Health

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce today endorsed Governor Schwarzenegger's health care reform proposal which includes a 4 percent payroll fee on employers with 10 or more employees who do not already contribute at least that much to providing health insurance for their employees. The L.A. Area Chamber Board of Directors urged Governor Schwarzenegger and other State Legislators to use the Governor's proposal as the template to pass health care reform during the upcoming special legislative session. The Chamber will evaluate any modifications to the Governor's current proposal and any new reform alternatives based on its 18-point statement of health care reform principles adopted last May.

"The decision by the L.A. Area Chamber Board of Directors represents a major step forward in providing health insurance to all Californians, while ensuring that businesses are not left standing alone to pay the bill," said Gary Toebben, President & CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. "The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce supports the Governor's proposal as it promotes the wellness, preventive care, consumer responsibility and transparency that will be needed to reduce the rising costs of health care delivery."

As an active participant in legislative efforts to fix our broken health care system, the L.A. Area Chamber supports comprehensive health care reform that expands access to affordable, quality health insurance and includes shared financing responsibility among all stakeholders in the health care system including: government, health plans, health care organizations, pharmaceutical companies, providers, employers, employees and individuals. The Chamber continues to oppose AB 8, which places the entire financial burden of expanding access on business.

More information on the L.A. Area Chamber and the work of its Health Care Policy Committee is available at