KENNESAW - A group of Cobb leaders, including a United States Representative, a lawyer, a hospital executive, an economist and a doctor all gathered on Thursday evening to discuss the past and future of the nation's health care reform plans before a crowd of almost 150 residents from across the state.

The Kennesaw State University Econometric Center and Small Business Development Center at the Coles College of Business hosted the forum at the KSU Center. Rep. Phil Gingrey, Tobin Watt of Smith Moore Leatherwood, Wellstar Health System CFO Jim Budzinski and hematologist and oncologist Kenneth Braunstein all spoke for 15 minutes each before an open Q&A session to discuss their perspectives on what should and should not be passed through legislature to ensure every American can have affordable health care.

"The president made it very clear that health care reform is one of his top priorities," Gingrey said. "I respectfully disagreed then, and I do now. When the unemployment rate is in the double digits and people are out of work, that needs to be the No. 1 issue. And I think if you suggested to someone out of work that you can give them a job and pay what they were making before, but they're on their own when it comes to health care, I think we could all guess they'd take that job." Gingrey also discussed his concerns that health care reform President Obama is proposing would cost too much and does not suggest a system that Americans would want.

"Democrats say this is paid for, but think about how they want to pay for it. With both, half of it is on the backs of existing Medicare funds, which we know are looking a little bleak. There are things I think we need to work on, such as denying pre-existing conditions, tort reform and lowering the cost of health care. But I don't think Americans want a Canadian or U.K. health care system, they want an American system and people do not want political bureaucrats to be the middle-men of their health care service," Gingrey added.

Watt agreed. "People say, 'We have a right to health care.' But what does that mean? To me, that means they want to be able to have everything. And once we say that, we'll never be able to afford this," Watts said. Budzinski said his health care system treats 100,000 uninsured patients a year, and that it cost the system $100 million to provide health care to those patients last year.

"Those costs and numbers are only growing. We need to work on getting hospitals and doctors working together better on this, and to find a cost-effective way to get insurance to these people because they seek out our help long after the illness has developed, and that creates a higher cost in the end," Budzinski said.

Braunstein said he felt whatever was passed needed to cover all the bases and that all "what ifs" are addressed.

"As physicians, we have to look back at some of these sorts of promises and predictions and ask if they were correct. Because we suffer when that answer is no, and are left with more red tape and obstacles," Braunstein said.

The physician also said that new developments in health care that could help many people are currently too expensive for everyone suffering with the respective diseases to take advantages of those breakthroughs.

"The biggest health problem, financially, is Alzheimer's. There is an effective treatment that has been developed and could help a lot of people, but it costs $50,000 per year, per customer. What's going to happen if everyone with Alzheimer's wants this? Who's going to pay for it? These are important questions that haven't been answered throughout this debate," Braunstein said.

Drew Tonsmeire, a business consultant with the KSU/SBDC, said he and others he spoke to were very pleased with the different perspectives each panelist provided and felt he now has a better understanding of what health care reform will mean to everyone, not just patients.

"We began the planning process for this forum back in the fall when we thought there would be some sort of legislature passed and could have these panelists offer their thoughts on what that legislature would bring," Tonsmeire said. "Obviously, nothing passed after changes and delays, but the issues are still there and there are so many things being proposed that people want to get down to what these things will really mean to them and the healthcare system. We were very pleased with the information we received today, and it's just so interesting to see the universal points being debated by people in all forms of the system."