Chamber seminar looks at health care bill

GAINESVILLE - The impact of federal health care legislation was the topic of Tuesday morning's Small Business Success Seminar at the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Phaedra Corso, Associate professor of Health Policy at the University of Georgia, told chamber members small employers won't be impacted as much as if they offer employee health insurance, but larger employers, that's different.

"It is those employers that have more than 50 employees that do not offer health insurance, they are going to be impacted because they're going to face penalties for not offering health insurance," Corso said.

Corso added if those employers offer insurance but workers cannot afford it, there are also penalties, but the health care bill may be delayed by conservative Congress members or declared unconstitutional in federal court.

According to Corso the health care system is broken, there is unsustainable growth in health scare expenditures. Changes are needed but Corso said she does not know if health care reform legislation is the answer; it has moved the nation toward facing issues.

"As a society, we have to make the decision, do we want people to have health insurance or not," Corso said. "Do we want to health care costs go down; if we do we're going to have to pay for it in some capacity."