During a visit to a Landover company Tuesday, President Bush touted a plan he says would take small businesses out of the business of offering health insurance to its employees by giving tax breaks to families and individuals so they could buy their own insurance.
Sitting in front of a banner that read ‘‘Quality Healthcare for All Americans” inside Man and Machine Inc.’s Landover headquarters, Bush reiterated his support for a proposal that would provide a $15,000 deductible for families and $7,500 for individuals ‘‘all aimed at encouraging people to be able to afford insurance and aimed at the encouragement of the development of an individual market.”
Bush brought forth the idea during his State of the Union Address earlier this year and has spoken about it around the country.
The plan would take the burden off small business owners like Clifton Broumand, president and founder of Man and Machine Inc., who struggle to cover the soaring costs of providing health insurance coverage for their employees. It would also move in a direction away from government-provided health insurance coverage.
Broumand said health insurance costs have gone up 73 percent per person on average in the last four years and that he pays up to $300 per employee for coverage.
Broumand said he pays more for health insurance for his employees per year than the costs per month to rent the business facility.
‘‘Every time I pay that bill, it means less money to build new products, innovate and grow my company,” Broumand said.
Though Broumand does not favor government control of health care, he also does believe the current health care system is broken. However, he is still skeptical about how Bush’s plan will work.
‘‘Fifteen thousand dollars seems like a lot, but if you have a family of four, if the rate goes up 13 to 17 percent a year, then the next year they’ve got to raise it,” Broumand said. ‘‘It just goes up so quickly. I don’t know if in the long run it will help.”
Dr. James Dula, president and CEO of the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce, agrees that health costs for families are expensive and hopes costs will eventually slow down so ‘‘families could play catch up.” However, he said Bush’s plan has promise.
‘‘It’s more money in the pockets of our workers, from what I can see,” Dula said. ‘‘Any time we have an opportunity to help our small businesses, that’s a step in the right direction.”
Before the discussion, President Bush took a brief tour of the facility, shaking hands with employees and congratulating them for their work in creating liquid-proof keyboards for use in hospitals and for Blackberry portable devices.
Broumand was approached by small business group policy government officials about doing Tuesday’s discussion after participating last October in a discussion sponsored by the FedEx Corporation about small business issues such as intellectual property rights.
In business for 25 years, Man and Machine Inc. moved to its current location on West Street in Landover from Hyattsville 14 years ago. The company has 18 to 20 employees.
‘‘We’re special because we’re one of the few companies that manufacture inside the Beltway,” said Joshua Hutcheson, marketer for Man and Machine Inc.
Hutcheson said the atmosphere in the office since learning of the president’s arrival was ‘‘hectic.”
‘‘A lot of people are nervous,” Hutcheson said before President Bush arrived. ‘‘It’s their first time around the president. It’s an interesting and humbling experience.”
Also attending the roundtable discussion were Bush advisor Karl Rove, Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt and Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Lori Emmert was also a bundle of nerves. Emmert, employee of accounting firm Burlage Associates based in Millersville, was seated at the roundtable with her boss and firm founder, Phyllis Burlage.
Emmert said Burlage, a member of the small business lobbying group the National Federation of Independent Business, is on top of many issues plaguing small businesses, including getting affordable health insurance for employees.
‘‘With premiums, deductibles and co-pays, you’re working just to cover health care,” Emmert said. ‘‘I feel it’s something that should be available to everyone no matter what their job. It’s very important.”
E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.
