Midwesterners Alarmed At Health Reform Proposals

Midwesterners Alarmed At Health Reform Proposals

Small Businesses Ask Questions, Discuss Solutions at Packed Events

 OMAHA, NE – Midwestern small business owners expressed alarm and skepticism over the health care reform proposals being pushed by congressional Democrats and the Obama administration this week.  In a second round of Keeping Small Business Healthy events, entrepreneurs from Missouri and Nebraska discussed their concerns over the proposed government mandates and new taxes with elected officials, small business advocates, and other small business owners.  This initiative is a project of the Institute for Liberty, an organization dedicated to assessing the impact of federal public policy on small business.

 “After speaking to small business owners throughout the south and Midwest,” said Andrew Langer, executive director of Keeping Small Business Healthy and the keynote speaker at these events. “It has become clear that there are serious misgivings about having the government radically change America’s health care system.  We all agree that reform is needed to provide affordable and accessible healthcare options, but these reforms need to help small businesses without imposing harmful government mandates and new taxes too.”

 Keeping Small Business Healthy has held a series of breakfast events, beginning several weeks ago with meetings in Baton Rouge, LA and Little Rock, AR.  This week, the group took the events to St. Louis and Kansas City, MO, as well as Omaha, NE.  These events offered an opportunity for small business owners to hear an in-depth analysis of what has been proposed, to discuss those proposals, and to offer their thoughts directly to elected officials via letters and video.

 “With the economy as weak as it is right now, it would be foolhardy to impose yet another series of burdens on America’s smallest employers,” Mr. Langer continued.  “Everyone, even the President and congressional leaders, agrees that small businesses are the engine of the economy, providing the majority of new jobs.  These proposals are chock-full of new mandates, new paperwork, and penalties that will kill jobs, rather than create them!  Even if the price tag weren’t nearly a trillion dollars, America couldn’t afford it!”

 The Institute for Liberty is based in Washington, DC, and will continue to host local events with breakfasts scheduled in Virginia next week.  Videos of small business owners and other concerned citizens can be found on the Initiative’s website, http://www.healthysmallbusiness.org.

 Keeping Small Business Healthy is an initiative of the Institute for Liberty and to learn more about the project visit www.healthysmallbusiness.org