America needs a better health care system – one that delivers accessible, affordable, high-quality care. Unfortunately, proposed health reforms in Congress increase costs for consumers and businesses and call for an unacceptable government-run health care plan.

The proposals before Congress attack the bedrock of our current health care system – employer sponsored health insurance. As part of reform, some in Congress want to create a government-run health care program that would put at risk the health insurance that employers voluntarily provide to more than 160 million Americans. The facts are on our side. More than eight in 10 Americans are happy with their employer-sponsored care. We want to protect what works in our health care system, and focus our energy and resources on addressing real problems within the system.

The Campaign for Responsible Health Reform is sponsored by the United States Chamber of Commerce. This is a grassroots campaign to educate businesses and citizens about the need for meaningful and affordable health reform that protects employer-sponsored health insurance – and shows what's at risk with government-run health care and other dangerous proposals. We want people to understand what's at stake and send a message to their elected officials that raising hundreds of billions in new taxes, increasing health care costs for millions of Americans, placing new job-killing mandates on employers and instituting government-run health care is the wrong approach to reform.

• It's fiscally reckless. New taxes, employer mandates and government-run health care will make health care costs higher, not lower.
• It will lead us down the road to total government control of our health. A government-run health insurance plan will undermine employer-sponsored coverage and is the first step toward a government takeover of health care similar to Europe and Canada, with fewer covered procedures, shortages of willing medical providers, and more government bureaucracy.
• It will make those with private insurance pay even more. The government-run plan will pay less money to doctors and hospitals, and they will make up the losses by shifting costs to patients with private insurance. This means millions of Americans, including people with employer-sponsored coverage, will be forced to pay more money for their health care.