Final answer:
Reducing healthcare costs would decrease the competitive disadvantage for American businesses by lessening the financial burden of providing employee health insurance, allowing for better allocation of resources.
Step-by-step explanation:
Reducing our health care costs would decrease the competitive disadvantage faced by American companies because of the health insurance coverage they have to provide for their employees. High health care costs can create a significant burden on businesses, especially when they are required to provide health insurance to their employees. This can make American companies less competitive compared to foreign firms that may not bear the same level of health care expenses.
One of the goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is to reduce the costs of healthcare (C) which should, in theory, help in alleviating the financial burden on businesses. In addition, the individual mandate provision of the 2010 U.S. healthcare reform (Answer to 15) requires everyone to have insurance or pay a penalty (c). This aims at increasing the number of insured Americans, which is also a step towards reducing overall healthcare costs by spreading the risk across a larger pool of insured individuals.
Therefore, if healthcare costs are lowered, businesses can allocate resources more effectively, potentially pass savings on to employees, or reduce product prices, hence improving their global competitiveness.