NFIB Joins Lawsuit Challenging Healthcare Law

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 14, 2010 — Dan Danner, president and CEO of The National Federation of Independent Business, America’s leading small business association, issued the following statement. For more information visit www.NFIB.com/hclawsuit.

“Today the NFIB joined the 20 states in this historic lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The fundamental mission of our organization is to promote and protect the rights of small businesses and the self-employed to own, operate and grow their business, and this healthcare law directly undermines this core value.

“We didn’t enter into the decision to join this lawsuit lightly – we have been representing small business owners since 1943 and we take this responsibility extremely seriously. But the outpouring of opposition to this new law was overwhelming and our members urged us to do everything in our power to stop this unconstitutional law.

“Small business owners everywhere are rightfully concerned that the unconstitutional new mandates, countless rules and new taxes in the healthcare law will devastate their business and their ability to create jobs.

“They are also concerned about their personal freedoms. This law is the first time the federal government has required individuals to purchase something simply because they are alive. If Congress can regulate this type of inactivity, then there are essentially no limits to what they can mandate individuals to do.

“We want to make it very clear: NFIB has a long history of working on and supporting healthcare reform. We are not part of the ‘Just say no’ crowd. Small businesses DO need reforms that help to reduce costs and increase choices. We have encouraged reforms that cover pre-existing conditions, help to create effective and affordable national exchanges, provide the ability to buy across state lines, and include liability reform. But this new law resulted in more bad than good for our nation’s job creators. And this law is a bridge too far in terms of the future of our constitutional freedoms and liberties.”