Members of the Denton business community raised shared concerns Wednesday morning about how health care reform could affect their bottom line.

About 30 people from the community asked questions and took notes at a business health care forum sponsored by U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess at the University of North Texas.

Burgess, R-Lewisville, said health care reform is muddied by lawmakers in Washington who are working on the issue without understanding the basics of health care.

“Many times, they simply don’t know what they’re doing,” he said.

Burgess, a physician who spent nearly three decades practicing medicine before being elected to the House of Representatives, said Wednesday’s forum was used to gather opinions from the small-business community and find out how members felt about the reform bills being considered.

Overall, the Denton business panelists opposed the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 and agreed with Burgess, who said the act would levy a severe tax on businesses trying to stay afloat in bad times.

“This would be the biggest corporate tax increase in history … making things harder on small business and making it harder to compete,” Burgess said. “The tax is not the right way to go; it would simply hurt small business.”

Burgess has openly criticized the act and told about 1,500 people at an open Denton town hall meeting earlier this month that he would not support President Obama’s plan, although he said some sort of health care reform was needed.

The roundtable panelists included Ken Willis, owner of Ruby’s Diner on the Square and co-owner of Beth Marie’s Old-Fashioned Ice Cream and Soda Fountain; Bob Moses, owner of Elements of Design and co-owner of Beth Marie’s; and Lisa Wiborg, a human resources director at Peterbilt Motors Co.

Merrill Matthews of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, an advocacy association for insurance carriers, also spoke at the forum.

Moses said the act would negatively affect his businesses and having more government in his life would only cost him more time and money.

“My experience shows government doesn’t do a sufficient job in helping me,” Moses said. “I’d like to see a tax incentive to help both employers and employees and decrease costs.”

Small businesses such as Ruby’s Diner and Beth Marie’s can’t take the higher costs of doing business, Willis said.

“Things [like food] cost a whole lot more now,” he said.

The general managers of the restaurant and ice cream shop are offered a stipend of cash in lieu of health care insurance, and the managers seem to prefer the increased pay, Willis said.

Peterbilt spends 11 percent to 15 percent of wage cost for health insurance — which surpasses the proposed 8 percent tax on businesses for health care suggested in the act, Wiborg said.

“We have rich health care, and while we’ve made significant changes to perks and policies, we’ve not changed health care,” she said.

If the health care reform is passed in any of the forms now being considered, Wiborg said, the truck manufacturing company may need to look at other ways to make cuts and remain competitive.

One major opportunity for reform in health care is in technology and better communication among health insurance companies, employers and insured employees, she said.

Employees who are aware of where their health care dollars are spent are better able to make health care decisions, weeding out unnecessary prescriptions and emergency room visits, Wiborg said.

“We do hope — if there’s mandatory coverage — if the train can’t be stopped, we do hope there’s a train stop to gather business input,” she said.


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