WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) today voted to overturn a new regulation that would end the health care law’s “grandfathered” status for the majority of small businesses, forcing their employees to find different health insurance. 

“While President Obama continues to promise Americans that ‘if you like what you have, you can keep it,’ rules to implement the new law break that guarantee,” said Wicker.  “Under this law, millions of Americans will be forced out of their current health care plans and required to purchase government-approved coverage.  The President’s health care legislation remains unpopular as we continue to discover its harmful consequences and mandates.”

Up to 80 percent of small businesses will lose their grandfathered status by 2013, according to an analysis by the Department of Health and Human Services.  Businesses that lose this status would be required to change the current health care plans they offer employees.

Wicker continued, “The rules and regulations included in the President’s health care law create uncertainty and burden small businesses and entrepreneurs across the country.  With more than one in 10 Mississippians looking for work, we should promote job growth rather than hurt our job creators.”

The vote to overturn the regulation failed 40-59.  However, Wicker vowed to continue working on ways to stop the implementation of the government-run health care system and replace it with solutions that reduce health care costs.

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