The Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce recognizes the need for first rate health care and access to that care as vital components of a vibrant business community. Costs of health insurance and health care are currently rising at rates many-fold greater than the core rate of inflation and are putting incredible pressures on local businesses and individuals. The Chamber recognizes the financial burden that providing health insurance for employees can cause business owners. Further the Chamber is mindful of the costs that result when care is provided to uninsured and underinsured residents of the Peninsula.

The Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce supports:
 

1. All reasonable efforts to make access to affordable health care broadly available (included, but not limited to an increased access to, and use of wellness and preventative health care programs) while not placing undue financial burdens on the business community;

2. Sustainable reimbursement schedules to area health care providers with particular emphasis on government fee schedules, such as Medicare, Medi-Cal, Tri-Care and Workers Compensation;

3. Initiatives that streamline government regulations to increase efficiency and reduce overall administrative burdens;

4. A moratorium on further attempts by the state to place financial burdens on local businesses that create undue hardship;

5. Federal and state reforms that allow small businesses to obtain group coverage through larger purchasing pools, or other mechanisms that can mitigate insurance risks in order to purchase reasonable levels of insurance coverage;

6. Increased competition in local health insurance area;

7. Initiatives that can increase the number of certain under-supplied care givers, e.g. select physician specialties, nurses and various other ancillary providers that are currently or projected to be in short supply;

8. Initiatives that will help avoid closing down the main county hospital, allowing it, or some version thereof, to continue functioning in a viable and sustainable manner, so it can continue providing critical safety-net medical services.