Employers Offer Range Of Views On Health Care

Vermont employers are offering a range of views to lawmakers on the future of the state's health care reform, but most of those testifying at a public hearing appeared to favor a go-slow approach.

The House Health Care and Senate Health and Welfare committees took testimony Wednesday night at a public hearing attended by about 80 people.

Some small business owners talked about feeling crushed by rapid increases in the cost of health insurance.

Others urged that as lawmakers design the universal, publicly funded health care system envisioned in a law passed last year, they allow employers maximum flexibility in which benefits will be covered.

And some complained they were being asked to support a measure whose costs and services remain undetermined.