Prevention Matters

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is offering companies new guidelines for coping with the H1N1 swine flu pandemic amid concerns that employers could face crippling absenteeism as the U.S. flu season takes hold. The 16-page guide, entitled "It's Not Flu as Usual: An H1N1 Business Preparedness Guide," offers scenarios in which more than 10 percent of staff are too sick to come to work on any given day over the course of several months to a year.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- which has been participating in daily meetings with members of the Obama administration, Congress and the Treasury Department -- has "found a surprising number of places to agree" with Obama's agenda, including issues such as health care, Politico reports.

Chamber President and CEO Thomas Donohue in an interview with Politico said that there have been "five or six or seven things that everybody can agree to" on health care -- including "wellness, children's diabetes and obesity, (information technology)" -- but that there "are a lot of things (there are) going to be big debates about, and that's reimbursement rates and who's paying and all that."

He said the Chamber hopes to "figure out a way to stay at the table to advance the discussion and to find ways to drive these people to some common agreement, without going over the line." However, Donohue added, "Are we going to stop the world and turn off everything else and do health care? I don't think so."