The new health care reform bill is a good idea, but my only concern is where is all the money going to come from? What happens when we run out of other people's money (bc it will happen)? The health care bill has definitely caused its fair share of controversies!

The bill may positively affect small businesses. Small businesses are typically unable to provide health care and insurance to their employees. A lot of employees find better jobs, or jobs which can provide health insurance and leave the small businesses. Hopefully this bill will decrease the turnover rate that small businesses have seen in the past.

Hopefully the bill will provide everything it says it's going to provide, plus more without any complications. However, as we know, that's often not the case. The only way we will know what happens is to wait & see.

Kelly S. McDaniel
Mississippi State University
College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2013
2010-11 President- Student Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society
2010-11 Vice President & Secretary- Veterinary Business Management Association
2010-11 Vice President- Disaster Animal Response Team
The Honest Kitchen Student Rep.

"To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded." Ralph Waldo Emerson

So I must admit that I honestly have absolutely no business posting an opinion on this board. I have utterly no knowledge of this topic what-so-ever having spent my entire life under the protective umbrella of goverment-provided near-unlimited health plans through family members. I can go on only my other experience of part-time jobs that don't offer me health insurance at all and the concerns of friends who need to seek out health insurance because it's not offered by their employers.

I understand in general that when an employer does not offer health insurance, it is extremely difficult to find it elsewhere at a reasonable cost that covers to a suitable degree. I also don't know anything about this unsurance exchange, but it sounds as if it would allow companies to shop for features a la carte which can have it's ups and downs. Getting the features that one needs vs a less-helpful but cheaper package price.

At this point, I suppose anything that finds a way to provide lower cost insurance to more workers has its good points.

University of Wisconsin

I have learned so much reading these posts- I really appreciate all the input!

I know as vet students we have less time to learn about what's going on outside the classroom, and we need to know more about health care! I will pass this information on to fellow VBMA members!

The new health care reform bill definitely has caused some controversy across the country. I think the general idea of providing insurance to everyone is a great thought, however, my concern is how that all of the financial provisions of the bill will be paid for by the government.

I understand that many small businesses, especially vet clinics, cannot provide benefits for it's employees which in turn leads to plenty of job turnover. The new bill will allow everyone to have this insurance, and in turn probably keep good employees at small practices in turn making these practices better. I think the big question on everyone's mind is that even as good as this sounds will it actually help small businesses cut costs or will it in turn end up raising expenses?

If the bill is as successful as I hope that it is, it will allow small practices to cut costs and keep valuable employees. However, as any bill passed before this one, we must all wait and see how it actually works out when it goes into full effect.

Hope everyone is enjoying their finals as we are here in Missouri!! Good Luck!

Cory Penn
Class of 2013
VBMA Chapter Vice President
University of Missouri

The new health care reform bill is one big balancing act. How do you balance the needs of the small business so they aren't bankrupted by providing their employees health insurance while helping employees get what they need? Not an easy task, especially with the decline in small business owners over the past decade and the rising need to built a better health care system.

Luckily, a huge part of the new bill is geared toward eliminating the restrictions that insurance companies have implemented over the years. Many of these provisions should make health care largely affordable and accessible to everybody. With more cost regulation and transparency, I think it will benefit business owners and employees as they negotiate contracts and improve worker satisfaction. Ideally, the proposed co-op will help alleviate the stress of providing quality insurance while satisfying the needs of the employee. However, as with any new system, it will be interesting to see the co-op come into fruition and if it meets the goals outlined by the bill...

Overall, I hope that this bill will benefit our industry and makes health care more accessible.

Ashley Bedarf
The Ohio State University CVM 2012
VBMA President

I think that the government is going to force small businesses to buy into their GI health care system because businesses' current health care is going to become so expensive that they won't be able to afford it. Low-income employees are the ONLY ones going to benefit from this health care reform. Employers and the middle-class are screwed. The government is just sugarcoating the reality by making it appear to appeal to the majority, when in fact, it does not. I feel than small business owners are going to opt out of providing healthcare all together and leave it up to the employee to provide their own coverage.

Lindsay Shuell
LSU SVM Class of 2012

I’ll be honest; I’ve been too busy studying to keep up with current events! But this is definitely one that I just can’t ignore. Just today in Oklahoma our State House approved a bill that is designed to prevent the new federal health care law from applying to Oklahomans. The bill provides that “no resident of the state shall be required to have health insurance and that they cannot be fined for failing to do so.” This has been the part of the bill that has been the most concerning to me as a potential small business owner.

In our state, about 16% of the population is uninsured. I looked up a study done around 2008 and over 80% of the people who were uninsured stated that they just couldn’t afford health care, even the low cost health care offered by the state. Did you know that insurance companies spend $1.4 million a DAY to lobby Congress? And they wonder why insurance is so expensive. Hmm…

Does anyone know of a general website I can go to that is unbiased? I'd like to learn more but all the information out there is so jumbled.

How will health care reform affect the veterinary industry?
As small business owners, veterinarians have a vested interest in the state of the healthcare system. Because of their higher health care costs, small businesses are far less likely to provide health insurance for their workers than larger businesses and the fraction of small businesses who offer health insurance has been declining in recent years.
Some goals of the current health care reform legislation:
• Small businesses that meet certain criteria would be able to purchase health insurance through an "insurance exchange" – allowing them to choose among a multitude of plans that would provide better coverage at lower costs than they could find in the current small group market.
• The creation of an insurance exchange would also provide better and lower-cost options for workers in small businesses that do not offer health insurance. Low-income individuals and families would receive sliding scale subsidies to help them purchase insurance. Additionally, health insurers would not be allowed to screen potential enrollees for pre-existing conditions.
• Many small businesses that provide health insurance for their employees would receive a small business tax credit to alleviate their disproportionately higher costs and encourage coverage.
• The current reform options include financial incentives for medium- and large-sized firms to provide health insurance coverage through so-called "pay-or-play" provisions. Firms with payrolls or employment levels below a certain threshold, which would include the vast majority of small businesses, would be exempt from the pay-or-play provisions. (From the Council of Economic Advisors)
How do you think health care reform will affect your business? Comment on any of these points, or make your own points. As future vets, it is crucial that we understand how government activity will affect our industry and this legislation in particular, will have a huge impact on veterinary medicine. Let us know how you feel!

Health care reform will be a boon for veterinarians. Due to the hazardous nature of their work, veterinarians and those who work for them are almost obligated to carry health insurance. Unfortunately, due to the high costs of insurance and the inability of many small businesses to self insure or to provide sufficient incentives for insurance companies to provide reasonably priced coverage, many veterinary employees either lack insurance or spend a huge percentage of their yearly income obtaining the coverage that they need.

Health Care Reform provides a variety of solutions to this problem. To begin with, small businesses such as veterinary clinics would be able to provide health insurance to their employees at a lower cost. Once this becomes feasible, health insurance could even become a standard employment benefit, much as it currently is for employment at larger companies.

Veterinary businesses would not be required to carry insurance for their employees under the current law, which exempts the vast majority of small businesses. However, even if a business were not to take advantage of the discounts in group insurance, individual employees would be more able to afford health insurance. This helps veterinary practice in a variety of ways, employee health, employee security, and employee retention will all benefit. Insurance will allow employees to stay healthy by encouraging preventative treatment of conditions which could potentially require them to miss work if left untreated. Furthermore, knowing that insurance will cover expenses incurred from what is undeniably a dangerous job will provide employees with peace of mind.

Brittany Marble
LSU SVM Class of 2012

Healthcare reform is a heated debate and one I felt wasn’t appropriate for me to simply state my opinion. As such, I consulted my officer group and the first response was what does healthcare reform have to do with veterinary medicine? Obviously most of us hadn’t considered the impact to our future careers. Most of us will be not only DVM’s, but a business owner as well. Therefore, this legislation is about to impact us in a very big way. I’ll admit I didn’t understand exactly how it could/would impact us so I did some research.

According to the white house’s website the new reform does not require that small business owners provide insurance to their employees. They stated that the tax credits are there to make it more affordable to us, since larger firms pay 18% less for insurance than small businesses. However, this leads me to question, where will these tax credits come from? Also, with insurance companies no longer being able to increase the cost of insurance for ill employees or base care on pre-existing conditions, this will lead to higher costs for insurance companies and a decrease in profitability. I find it hard to believe that insurance rates will stay low if the company’s profit margins are rapidly decreasing.

Furthermore, the line stating that in 2014, large companies (defined as 50 employees or more) will have to pay $2,000 for each employee receiving state funding makes me nervous for business owners. They estimate this will only affect a small percentage of businesses. However, I provide this example. A large dairy could have over 50 employees easily. Most workers would be of lower income and could qualify for government assistance. This would lead to a huge cost to the dairy industry. If our clients are losing money, we are losing money.

There have been a lot of well thought posts to this topic thus far. All of which should lead to thoughts to ponder. Even if you are in favor of health care reform, I suggest questioning how this bill could affect your future as a business owner.

That’s it from Washington State,
Happy Summer!

Yes, it is a few days away from May, yet it snowed in Ithaca today. It was terrible. On a brighter note, it is supposed to be up to 70 degrees in just a few days. I just don't get it!

In terms of the topic being discussed, I agree with a lot of the previous states answers. Many veterinary practices are small businesses, and I feel that these incentives and tax breaks will not only alleviate some of the financial concerns associated with providing health care, but will also be a huge benefit to our employees who might not be able to afford health care without us paying for it. One downside to this would be the implementation of restrictions on the size of our hospitals and the amount of employees we have and how much we pay them specifically to be considered under a certain tax bracket.

At least the insurance changes will not (and will never) affect our quality of medicine. That is something I appreciate a lot more since joining VBMA and learning about pet insurance and its completely different way of working compared to human health insurance.

Ilyssa Meren
VBMA Chapter President
Cornell University
College of Veterinary Medicine
Class of 2013

Hi from out West at UC Davis,
I think most of the key points have already been mentioned, so I'm not going to bother to rehash them again.

What I do think though, is that it is really far to early to tell what this new legislation is going to do to business and more specifically the veterinary industry. I believe the legislation doesn't become effective until 2014 and I imagine it will undergo several modifications by then.

The other point I'd like to bring up is that one reason claimed by many large corporations such as General Motors for their economic difficulties is the costs they pay for their employees healthcare plans. I've read some articles that estimated medical coverage taking up over 30% of their operating budget. Those costs make it extremely difficult to compete with companies in other countries that have universal healthcare. While this might not effect smaller veterinary businesses it is probably something to consider.

I hope everyone is enjoying spring!

Cheers,
Jason
UC Davis VBMA President

Hello Everyone!

I too have been extremely impressed by all of the responses. One thing, however, that I feel hasn't been adequately addressed is the discussion is the employee number and earning caps in the legislature. For example,

"For the next four years, until the SHOP Exchanges are set up, businesses with 10 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees earning less than $25,000 a year on average will be eligible for a tax credit of 35% of health insurance costs. (Companies with between 11 and 25 workers and an average wage of up to $50,000 are eligible for partial credits.)"

Personally, I know quite a few veterinary technicians and assistants who earn less than $25,000. I think salary requirements such as these will encourage veterinarians to artificially cap the earnings of some of their employees at $25,000 to lessen their own expenses. I believe that many small business owners will also seek to hire many employees on a part-time basis to exploit the loop-holes in the legislature.

Many of the items passed will only apply for companies with more than 50 employees. While the majority of veterinary practices fall safely within these limits, this may serve as a disincentive to hire a few more employees, if your practice is currently in 40's.

Also, another result of reform that high earners (specialists, practice owners, etc) may personally feel is a tax hike for high-income individuals, starting in 2013. The law is funded in part by a 0.9% (from 1.45% to 2.35%) tax increase on wages over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples.

Despite some of these adjustments and short-comings, I am personally optimistic that healthcare in the USA is moving towards full inclusion and affordability. Thanks for reading and good luck with the end of your semesters!

Cleo P. Rogatko
PennVet 2013
Vice-President VBMA

Health care is a vital part of our society. Through businesses, even small businesses, employees rely on a health care plan in order to protect their family from future health related financial problems.

While there are currently several hurdles in the United State's health care system, I feel the new future health care bill will not appropriately address these issues to their full extent. The idea of lower insurance costs seems beneficial to most, but through government subsidizations and taxes, these "lower costs" will only hurt small business owners in the future. I do believe the health care reform will benefit American's in the way of creating innovative thinking on the topic though, thus finding better resolutions to the current problem.

The veterinary field appears to be heading towards the direction of the medical field in terms of insurance. This means higher costs for treatments to our clients and future financial and litigation issues to our practices. Hopefully over time, these issues can be managed in a way that benefits us all.

I believe there have been some valid points expressed regarding the pluses and minuses by previous posters that Health Care Reform could have on the business of veterinary medicine. In my opinion the adopted legislation was more reactionary than thorough regarding what really needs to be changed - versus giving the government even more sweeping control in all aspects of our lives.

Consider... that with the current Tort System, (in other words without Tort reform), our understaffed profession would be all but decimated if we evolve into a profession more like our human doctor counterparts. This needs to be addressed, but has fallen by the wayside of consideration by our primarily lawyer trained legislators.

Between the current state of affairs and the reform itself we are certainly glad that our profession does not have insurance designed like the human health care system. I just can't see how Health Care Reform won't impact the care that a patient will receive - negatively that is. As doctors ourselves this should be a very real concern.

Economically, average people will, in the end, pay for this program by reducing their disposable income which will likely directly impact our clinics/practices as they are able to spend less on pet care.

Finally, this shows the ability of government to get more deeply involved in our business and personal lives even when the majority of Americans did not want it. Professionally and personally this shows Washington D.C. the opened door that could lead to future legislation that could be even more detrimental.

Nanci Richards
2010 VBMA President
UIUC CVM Class of 2012

So I've found out how little I know about this topic! I am going to poll my fellow officers and get their opinions on the issue- but in the mean time, I had a question for all of you:

How will this legislation affect one or two doctor ambulatory large animal vets? They don't have the same support staff that small animal vets have- how will this affect their overall cost of health care?

Tori Long
Virginia-Maryland

Hi Everyone,

I'm impressed with several of your responses to this (spicy) topic, so I'll make my points short and sweet.

I think it's imperative to offer health insurance to all your full-time employees in order to retain good employees and stay productive. In order to stay productive, our healthcare team needs to have their medical needs met as well so that they can continue to provide the best possible care to our patients. Therefore, I think any improvement the government can make regarding afforadbility of healthcare for smaller businesses is both welcomed and warranted.

Thank you,
Brandi Bayliff
WesternU VBMA President

Hi from the University of Tennessee.

While the proposed healthcare reform is obviously not perfect, I think it is definitely a step in the right direction.

I know one of my major concerns working as a small animal veterinarian in the future was healthcare. Prior to veterinary school, I worked at a private small animal veterinary clinic where all the employees (doctors, techs, receptionists, kennel) were all offered the same insurance plans. The insurance was expensive (for just myself, it was ~$200 a month and for one of the doctors, his spouse and children, he paid over $500 a month) and this did not include dental or vision. From what I understand, this is pretty standard for most small animal veterinary clinics.

Therefore, allowing employees to choose among many different plans that would provide better coverage at lower costs than previously offered and also giving the practice owners a tax credit would be beneficial. It would help employee retention rates, especially of valued employees that could leave the particular job or even the profession due to the price of healthcare.

However, after saying all of this, one of the officers in our chapter was just denied a summer job because the owner of the clinic said that “due to the passage of the healthcare reform, they were not hiring any new employees at the time.” Any thoughts or comments on this? From what I know about the healthcare reform, I’m not sure how it would cause a small business to not offer a position to someone who would not even be eligible for healthcare since they would be temporary/summer employment.

Kathy Durso
VBMA Secretary
University of Tennessee
Class of 2012

Hi from rainy New England!

This may be a duplicate reply, as I had typed some commentary and accidently hit the enter key, but don't seem to see it posted here yet, so here goes again...

Basically, as a past Econ major and business woman for quite a few years in small companies, I think that any time the government reduces your degrees of freedom of action in a business, it's not a good thing. This particular piece of legislation is definitely going to cost the small business owners more, tax offsets notwithstanding (for a while...they always seem to disappear later...).

I find it ironic that health care benefits were something that businesses offered to potential workers as competitive differentiation during a wartime (WWII) period of government wage controls. Now we are kind of "stuck" with the bill, but someone else is ordering the meal! Given how bureaucratic the current health care industry is, does anyone really think that the government is going to make it less so? Or make it cost less? When has that ever happened? While I do think the health insurance and health care industries need some overhaul, I am not sure this piece of legislation was the way to go.

All that aside, I still believe, as a small business owner-to-be, that having some kind of affordable wellness & catastrophic option will end up being good for business on the employee retention side. I am hoping that the insurance exchanges (if they pan out as promised) will be a means to achieve this goal for small businesses and individuals in an affordable and quality manner.

Maybe we should talk about the college loan program takeover, too...LOL

Anne Fleming
Class of 2013
VBMA Co-Vice President
Tufts University

Hello from Purdue University:

I love reading all the different posts made by everyone!

This topic is certainly noteworthy. As a future business owner, I do have concerns about the impact of the health care reform on my future business. However, I also know that offering health insurance even as a small business can be done. I spent 2 years after college in the work field as a veterinary assistant and wouldn’t have been able to afford health insurance if it wasn’t offered through work. They had a great business model and offered health, dental, and eye insurance to all employees. I know small businesses can be challenged especially in tough economic times, but I also know it is possible to efficiently run a small business and provide health insurance for staff members and their families.

Above all, I am excited to see some sort of change in the health care system. Most of us agree that this newest health care reform is not the best, but I am still in support of it because I hope it will provoke our citizens and politicians to continue the problem-solving effort. We need some fire to get change done.

Rayne Johnson
Purdue DVM 2012
VBMA Purdue Chapter President

One of the few assumptions that I feel comfortable making is that the cost of providing medical insurance to employees for small businesses such as ours will certainly increase. If the government was not expecting costs for small business owners to increase, they certainly would not have felt compelled to provide a small business tax credit to alleviate higher costs. Unfortunately, these tax credits will never fully cover the increase in cost to our businesses. The bottom line is that our costs are going to increase. This in turn will affect every single part of our business. The primary ways to increase revenue are to increase profits and or decrease costs; the greater our revenue, the greater our ability to expand and grow our business. This law will increase the cost of providing health care to our employees and I believe that most small business owners will respond by either not providing coverage if they are allowed or by limiting the number of employees on staff and thus limiting the growth of their business.
Until last week the million dollar question was will health care reform pass, and if so, what will it look like? I now pose the argument that the million dollar question has become, will this law be repealed? At this point it is difficult to predict what will happen. The best course of action for us in the mean time is to continue to learn about this new law as more information becomes available. In turn, we then need to do our best to adapt our business practices to minimize the impact of this legislation on our costs and the future profitability of our businesses.
-Thanks to Holly M.

Hi from Florida!

The general consensus from students at the University of Florida is that this plan has a lot to offer to small business owners, but seems to possibly overlook some faults in the reform. There is mention of a small business tax credit to alleviate the higher costs and encourage coverage, but how much will this be? Would the benefit of having all employees covered by health insurance and encouragement of the employees to use their insurance outweigh the costs of having employees out sick for longer since they do not have health insurance? One student pointed out that for them the costs associated with the insurance would be passed down to the consumer, but that if the market/clients could not bear the increased cost that they would have to reduce spending, most likely through boosting unemployment. In this situation, it seems that this reform would work out better in a healthy economy versus the current state of the economy. Another point is that these changes could negatively impact the financial stability of the American healthcare system, limiting the care of patients, increasing prescription drug costs, less new drug development, increased costs and taxes to the public, and a decrease in research. Part of this concern could stem from the requirement that health insurers would not be allowed to screen for pre-existing conditions, leading to potentially extraordinary costs associated with some insurees for the insurance companies. Clearly the repercussions of this may take time, but would possibly be catastrophic. Another concern we had was who would be paying the subsidies provided to the low-income families and individuals who are not offered health insurance? Is the pay or play provision in reference to the employer paying for insurance for the employee or paying a fee of 8% of gross payroll as penalty? This could very well be detrimental to some larger veterinary practices. One other concern we had was if this was a step towards the federal government trying to control everything. All in all, it is essential that provisions such as the ones listed in the discussion are made in order to ensure that the new cost of providing insurance coverage plans for employees does not drive small businesses out of business.

Sandra Anderson
University of Florida
DVM/MPH Student Class of 2012
VBMA National Liaison
SCAVMA Meeting Coordinator

Greetings from IA!

Although I appreciate the original goals to lower health care costs for small business owners, I am not at all in favor of this government-organized healthcare reform proposal as it stands. Much of my anxiety stems from the idea of the government deciding for small businesses and the rest of the population what is 'fair' and 'necessary' to maintain a person's health. Don't get me wrong, the goals sound great, but how many of them will the government really pull through on? Where is this money coming from? I am also concerned that if the government begins to control healthcare, what's not to say they won't begin controlling other aspects of our lives as well?

There are many questions yet to be answered, but one thing's for sure, it will definitely impact our veterinary businesses in the future. It will affect our ability to attract quality employees including veterinarians and staff. Because our staff directly reflects our business, it could change the whole face of our future companies. I would like to offer health-care to my future employees, but I don't want to be mandated by the government to do so, or how to go about it. As a small business owner, I would like to decide what health-care to offer, if any at all. I feel like this new health-care plan puts those decisions in jeopardy. Also, by altering expenses, our business plans will need to reflect these changes, as will our fees for various services. In summary, this change affects the entire industry, and is not something that can just be decided upon overnight.

I was really hoping to see the government come up with a more industry-specific approach. For example, the veterinary industry could be assigned a plan related to the debt-relief being offered for food animal veterinarians. If the nation is that short on large-animal vets, and they're offering huge incentives to go work for the government for awhile, why we couldn't funnel some of that money into a health-care system for the vet industry specifically? Although veterinary businesses have much in common with all small businesses, it's hard to lump the medical field in with everyone else. Those are my thoughts for now, it will be interesting to see what happens!

Sherry Johnson
ISU VBMA President

While I agree that premiums are becoming too costly for the average worker I'm not sure if I want the government paying for it. My main concern is where the government is going to get the money to run the health care system. New government programs usually equal new taxes which could have a detrimental effect on private practice veterinarians. If you are looking at owning a multi-doctor private practice or even a smaller practice you could very well be in the upper bracket for taxes which is usually the bracket that gets hit the most with tax increases. Health care for all sounds great right now when we’re not the ones paying the taxes but we all need to think ten or fifteen years down the road and think about the impact on our bank accounts then.

Morgan Watkins
Treasurer
Auburn CVM VBMA

While the bill that was eventually proposed isn't the way I would have preferred it to pan out, I am modestly optimistic that it will help to provide a better situation for practice owners.

I think the trend without reform is for most practices to offer limited health insurance because the doctors can be insured by the GHLIT. Techs would generally have to buy into the individual market. I think the premiums in many states are just getting too high for the practices to cover a few employees. As practice size grows, though, it gets less expensive.

Looking at the provisions in the new bill, it seems intended to widen the risk pool in the individual market. This will be a good thing for the employees of veterinary practices because they will find better, cheaper plans. The bill is intended to lower prices for workers who make less than $44,000 per year, which includes most techs. If the practices can get a tax break by buying the plans for the employees, it looks like a no-brainer.

I do worry with any sweeping overhaul of regulations that there will be loopholes in it that can have unintended consequences. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

To be honest, I wish that we had just gotten rid of the employer-based system altogether.

John Duncan
UGA VBMA President
Class of 2012

Wow. I really didn't expect this forum to step into such a "hot" topic.

I know that the current proposed health care reform will affect veterinarians across the nation. Many people believe that the reform is much needed, some stand firmly against it. My position is almost to sit on the fence between the two sides. (Which I guess is the politically correct term for being undecided on my opinion) =)

If the government is going to regulate the price gouging that is currently happening through an insurance exchange, that would be wonderful. But on the other hand, why is the government having to regulate this? And if the government chooses to regulate one area of commerce, why not another as well (and then where does the slippery slope stop)? How would the government decide what is a "fair" price for insurance? Would the government then have a hand in deciding what a "fair" treatment is? Would the insurance companies have any adjustment into what claims they pay or do not pay?

My father is a human physician. This summer I had the opportunity to work with him for a month and learn a little more about insurance companies. It amazed me exactly how little he was paid for his services. The insurance companies decide what is a fair price for his time, knowledge and abilities. They also decided what tests he should be performing on his patients, how much time he should spend with his patients and basically what he could or could not do. Now granted, these steps were probably originally put in place to safe guard the patients, but they have become a road block to the doctors. For these reasons, I worry not about the Americans that are without health insurance, but for medicine as a whole. And for these reasons, I do not think that the current health care reform is what American needs. It might make it cheaper for small business owners, such as myself in 5 years, to provide insurance for my employees. But in the long run, does it help elevate a problem? Or just provide a bigger one? Sometimes I find that the "cheaper/short term" solution is not the best one.

I am sorry if my rant/soapbox went in a slightly different direction that it was intended.

Ashley Craig
Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine
2012 DVM Candidate
VBMA President
AAEP Vice President