Senator Ted Kennedy claims his bill -- "Kennedy-Care" -- is the fix to the problems he has diagnosed.

But "Dr." Kennedy's cure could be worse than the ailments. According to an analysis prepared by the respected Barents Group, LLC, enactment of Kennedy-Care would result in the following:

• In 1999, 3.1 million more people would be uninsured.

• From 1999-2003, each covered household would pay $422 more in premiums.

• In turn, wage losses per covered household would total $1,869 from 1999-2003.

• Employers would pay increased premiums of $1,593 per covered worker during the same period. That means less in compensation or other benefits.

• This means a total increase of employer premiums of $116.7 billion from 1999-2003, leading to less or no business expansion.

Republicans believe Americans deserve access to high-quality healthcare but without massive new mandates from Washington that dramatically drive up costs and numbers of the uninsured.

Nationally, Kennedy-Care threatens to lock out 3 million people from healthcare in 1999 alone, according to the Barents analysis.