(For full coverage of healthcare reform, click [nN20512341])

* Obama says report underscores need for major reform

* Group favors parts of Senate Finance Committee bill

By Donna Smith

WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - An influential business group said on Thursday that its continued support for President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul hinges on whether it slows the soaring growth rate of healthcare costs.

The Business Roundtable, which represents some of the largest employers in the United States, released a report saying that "effective" healthcare reforms could save employers as much as $3,000 per worker by 2019.

"The report also shows that reform done wrong ... could make a bad situation much worse, in which case Business Roundtable could not support the bill," Eastman Kodak (EK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Company Chairman and Chief Executive Antonio Perez said in a statement accompanying the release of the report.

Obama said it was further evidence that the U.S. healthcare system is broken.

"If we don't pass comprehensive reform, the report finds, health care costs that are already squeezing our businesses will continue to rise, and in 10 years, employment-based spending on health care for large employers will be fully 166 percent higher per employee than it is today," the president said in a statement.