Figueroa spoke, along with a representative of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), at a luncheon meeting Thursday of the Manufacturers Association of New Haven County at the Graduate Club.

Eric George (pictured), assistant counsel to the CBIA, said, "We poll our members all the time, and three-quarters of them say they are making hiring decisions based on health care costs alone. We're looking to decrease cost while improving quality and thereby increasing access. We do this through a market-based system."

George said HB 6652 (click here to read it) is the legislative vehicle to that end. It would improve HUSKY and SAGA (providing health care to low-income children and their parents, and low-income single people, respectively), which he said comprise "a safety net that has been underfunded and under-utilized because many people don't know they're eligible." According to the bill, individuals could purchase what they can afford. George added, "The state does not reimburse providers enough, which is one reason CBIA opposes the single-payer idea; the state underfunds hospital costs to the tune of 70 cents on the dollar. We're paying for it through higher premiums and higher medical bills." He said CBIA also opposes employer mandates to provide health coverage.

George promoted HB 6839, which would create and implement a statewide health information technology plan, using electronic medical records, as an important part of health care reform.

Senate Bill 1, introduced by Senate President Don Williams, would provide a more fundamental overhaul, possibly including creation of a single-payer system.

Figueroa began his talk by trying to separate what his organization is trying to do -- promote universal coverage based on five principles -- from what he called the "scare tactics" used in past struggles over health care reform. (Click here for more on that, and here for an elaboration of the principles of universality, portability, affordability, sustainability, and enhancement of health and well-being.)

Figueroa said his organization is sponsoring discussions among business owners, medical providers, and people currently without health insurance to try to come up with the best possible ideas for health care reform. It would have to improve on the current system, he said. "We need to understand that we're spending money on bureaucracy. Thirty to forty percent of our cost of health care is bureaucracy -- paper pushing."

Citing his organization's surveys, Figueroa reported that, "Eighty percent of 800 business leaders believe everyone should have access to health care." He said small business owners say both the cost and the unpredictability of the costs of health care for their employees is what's killing them, even while they say they really want to provide decent coverage. When they can't, Figueroa said, "They feel bad, because their employees are like family."

He said doctors feel they can no longer practice medicine at all or practice the way they want to because of the way health care is currently financed. "I couldn't believe how marginalized these doctors felt in relation to their being able to practice what they've studied because of the perverse nature of the way we're delivering care."

Figueroa concluded that there can be honest disagreement about the best way to proceed, "but the option of doing nothing is not acceptable."

During the Q&A, one man asked, "Don't we already have socialized medicine -- Medicare? And couldn't that be expanded to cover the rest of the population?" He didn't seem to think that would be such a scary option.

"Bottom line is the quality of coverage. How can we ensure that through universal health care?"

Yet another questioner said all the talk was about how to pay for health coverage. "What about the cost side?" he wanted to know.

CBIA's George responded that, "Health care is expensive, especially end-of-life care."

He predicted passage in this legislative session of the electronic medical records bill; an increase in providers' reimbursement rates, better outreach for HUSKY and SAGA, an increase in transparency, but not a major overhaul in health care reform. "We don't see that the erosion of our employer-sponsored system being a benefit to the state."