Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz asks that the Obama administration reconsider its position on health care reform in an interview published Tuesday by The Seattle Times.
The coffee company and barista bigwig, often vocal about wanting health care reform, saw double-digit employee health care cost increases for five consecutive years.
“That cost last year was $250 million,” Schultz told The Seattle Times.
He said that while current health care reform offers good intentions, the burden will fall on small businesses.
“There’s no plan that would be a perfect plan, but the intent of the bill and the heartfelt commitment to insure the uninsured is the right approach,” he said. “I think as the bill is currently written and if it was going to land in 2014 under the current guidelines, the pressure on small businesses, because of the mandate, is too great.”