Obama's One-Way Chat

It was nice of President Obama to invite small-business owners, including members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, over for a chat Thursday.

The group didn’t actually make it inside the White House—the event was held next door at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. And it wasn’t much of a chat—the president did all the talking, with a speech that included the requisite nod toward small business as “the engine of job growth in America.”

Obama’s main message to these small-business owners was that health care reform is essential to “giving you the chance to prosper and grow.”

Most small-business groups agree in principle. The high cost of health care has been the No. 1 concern for small-business owners for more than a decade, according to surveys by the National Federation of Independent Business. NFIB, like the Chamber, often disagrees with the president, so it was nice of Obama to invite their members to the event as well.

The top priority of business groups like the Chamber and NFIB is to make health insurance more affordable. They’re concerned, however, that some provisions of the health care bills pending in Congress would make insurance more expensive, not less. For example, the updated House bill—which was introduced Thursday—would establish a government board that would set minimum benefit levels for insurance plans. Small businesses that offer lesser, more affordable coverage would have to drop those plans for a richer set of benefits.

So much for Obama’s promise that if you’re happy with your current insurance plan, you can keep it.

The Chamber and NFIB also are concerned that including a government-run plan in new insurance exchanges would undercut the private insurance market. They also don’t like the House bill’s requirement for employers to offer coverage, and they oppose a new tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000, which would include many small-business owners.

Obama, however, told small-business owners and their representatives that they’re wrong to worry about such things.

“There is no doubt that this legislation…would benefit millions of small businesses,” he said. “It is being written with the interests of Americans like you and your employees in mind.

“And yet there are those with a vested interest in the status quo who are claiming otherwise, using misleading figures and disingenuous arguments. So let me try and explain as clearly as I can exactly what health insurance reform would mean for small-business owners like you and the workers you employ,” Obama said.

Then he went on to tout the benefits of insurance exchanges, tax credits that will help some businesses afford coverage, and insurance-market reforms, such as ending the ability of insurers to deny coverage based on preexisting conditions.

Those steps could indeed help small businesses, and some coalitions such as the Main Street Alliance support the House bill.

But Obama is the one who is being disingenuous when he says it’s only those with a “vested interest in the status quo” who contend some health care reforms could be bad for small businesses. NFIB has no vested interest in the status quo—they’ve been fighting for insurance-market reforms for years.

Plus, the president sounded downright condescending when he said, “Let me try and explain as clearly as I can.” It sounds as if Obama thinks the problem is that health care legislation is too complicated for small-business owners to understand. They understand it all right; many just don’t like it.

Ralph Beebe, president of Highland Engineering Inc. in Howell, Michigan, was one of the NFIB members who attended Obama’s speech. He found Obama’s speech “a little insulting, as a business owner.”

Maybe the president should try listening to small-business owners for a change, instead of just giving speeches to them.