Manufacturers President: 60 Million Americans Will Lose Employer-Sponsored Coverage (UPDATED)

National Association of Manufacturers president Jay Timmon, in his annual State of Manufacturing address today in Houston, Texas:

The health care law isn’t supposed to affect manufacturers with fewer than 50 employees, but I know one who was affected. Staub Manufacturing Solutions in Dayton, Ohio, which only has 22 employees, saw a 21 percent increase in health care costs last year, and it’s projecting a 91 percent increase this year.

The company’s president made this very obvious statement: “The Affordable Care Act is far from affordable.”

If we don’t do something to fix the law, more than 60 million fewer American workers will have employer-sponsored coverage in 10 years. That will be the new reality for our workforce.

(UPDATE: NAM issued a correction Wednesday morning, suggesting a much lower figure of 6 to 7 million. See below.)

Assume for a moment that Timmon is overstating the impact and overestimating how many companies will choose to pay the fine and leave their employees to shop for insurance on the exchanges; let’s even say that he’s doubling the number of Americans who will lose their employer-sponsored insurance. That would still be an additional 30 million people losing their insurance — and in quite a few of those cases, those Americans probably like their plans and don’t want to change.

He continues:

The law, as implemented, will hurt manufacturers and their employees. Take, for instance, what you are facing in additional fees and costs over the next three years: $22.2 billion. That figure is simply added cost — it won’t get that mom on your assembly line one more pediatrician visit or one more prescription filled for your shop floor manager’s family.

The White House, of course, continues to insist that businesses aren’t suffering under the law:

UPDATE: This morning, NAM issues an epic correction:

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Senior Vice President of Communications Erin Streeter issued the following statement:

“Earlier today, the NAM stated the number of employees with employer-sponsored coverage who would lose plans as a result of the Affordable Care Act. That number should have been between 6 million and 7 million total between the years 2016 and 2024, according to the Congressional Budget Office.”