Air Conditioning Contractors of America board Chairman Stan Johnson Jr. said the existing proposals put too many mandates on businesses without doing enough to rein in medical lawsuit abuses that drive up insurance costs. 

Saying they do little to reduce small businesses’ insurance costs, the ACCA announced that it is opposing the health care reform bills pending in the U.S House and Senate.

In an e-mail, Air Conditioning Contractors of America board Chairman Stan Johnson Jr. said the existing proposals put too many mandates on businesses without doing enough to rein in medical lawsuit abuses that drive up insurance costs. He urged members contact their senators and representatives to oppose them.

“ACCA believes that reform of the health insurance system is needed. But we believe it needs to be done right,” Johnson said in the e-mail. “Now is not the time to conduct dangerous and expensive societal experiments on the backs of small business.”

Overhauling the nation’s health care system is a top priority of President Barack Obama, and he spent much of June and July urging Congress to pass bills through each chamber before members left for the annual August recess. However, strong Republican opposition and deep divisions among House and Senate Democrats over what reforms the bill should contain, including a government-backed insurance program to compete with private insurers - and how the reforms should be paid for - has slowed progress.

The president, who originally wanted to sign a final bill in October, now says he wants reform passed by the end of the year.