SACO — Sen. Olympia Snowe said Wednesday that health care reform proposals need to be examined carefully to evaluate the impact they could have on small businesses.

Snowe was the lone Republican in the Senate to support a Senate Finance Committee proposal she helped draft, but in December voted against the version passed by the Senate.

Joined by a panel of experts, she led a small business forum at the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce and Industry annual meeting Wednesday morning. The event was held at the Holiday Inn Express.

Snowe said she wanted to hear from business owners directly about what the federal government could to do to help small businesses.

“I want to hear what you have to say,” she told the audience that filled the large conference room. “Small businesses are integral to the ability of our nation to create jobs.”

Snowe said that she has heard stories of how the skyrocketing increases in health care premiums have affected small businesses and said she is concerned about the impact of the proposed federal health care bill.

Snowe said that she has written a letter to the congressional budget office asking how the proposed health care plan could impact small businesses and individuals and how much co-payments and deductibles would be.

“I don’t think, in good conscience, Congress should pass anything without knowing the answers to these questions,” said Snowe.

She said she objects to the “artificial time line” the administration and Democratic leaders have set for health care reform, and the rush to get it passed. The bill won’t go into effect until 2014.

“We have time,” she said.

Snowe said there is a mindset in Washington to just get the bill signed and that afterwards people will forget about it.

“They’re wrong. People won’t forget about it,” she said.

She said that Congress has spent more time on the farm bill, the energy bill, and No Child Left Behind than “a 2,700-page bill that will affect every single American.”

The cost of health care was also on the minds of small business owners in the audience.

Carolyn Brodsky, president of Sterling Rope Company, reiterated some of Snowe’s concerns, drawing applause from the audience.

“A 2,700-page bill scares me to death. I don’t think we know what the costs are in there,” she said.

Jim Willey, owner of Canteen Services, said that he and his employees cannot sustain any health care increases. He said that he had hoped that federal involvement would mean premiums would go down.

“Is there any chance that that can still happen with this bill?” he asked.

Snowe said that was one of the questions she has asked in her letter to the Congressional Budget Office.

“That’s one of the issues that I have been seeking to find the answer to,” she said.

Tarren Bragdon, chief executive officer of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, said that in Maine there are only three choices for health insurance, while in New Hampshire there are 13.

Snowe said people in Maine needed access to a larger pool of health care providers.

Brodsky said she was also concerned about tax increases and government spending. She said that if she has to pay more taxes, she won’t be able to use that money to invest in her company.

Snowe said that she was also concerned about taxes and federal spending.

She said that some members of Congress did not understand how tax increases could affect small businesses. For example, she said that a proposal to hike taxes for those earning more than $250,000 could impact small business owners who pay an individual tax rate.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.