Health Care and Small Businesses

Health care forums across North Dakota are bringing small business owners together. Small busines...  More »

Health care forums across North Dakota are bringing small business owners together. Small business owners and the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform are discussing the effects of the proposed legislation. Many business owners feel the current propsals would have a negative impact on their business. Many say the bills in the house and senate don't address health care reform. Executive Director of the North Dakota Taxpayers Association, Dustin Gawrylow says the current propsals are a replacement of the current system. He feels the government should start with fixing medicare and medicade. (Dustin Gawrylow/Executive Director of the ND Taxpayers Association) "We really need to focus on sureing those up first and then look at how we can expand the current system that works for 90-percent of the population to the 10-percent that it is not working for. The problem right now is Congress is not discussing how to fix the system, they are talking about how to replace the system with a totally new system and a new culture of government regulation and control." Small business owner Dick Hedahl says he is opposed to all the proposals that are being presented in Congress. He feels tax payers will be paying a lot more if the current proposals pass. He says when you offer health care to everyone, the demand will sky rocket. Dick Hedahl says if the current proposals pass in Congress, other programs will suffer. (Dick Hedahl/President of Hedahl Incorporated) "I'm frightened of the cost. They say they are going to save money. Its not possible to cover 40-million more people for less money. That's just not logical." The two day tour ends in Bismarck.  « Less