CRANBERRY TWP — Congressman Jason Altmire talked with business owners Thursday about the rising costs of health care coverage and some businesses' inability to provide it to their employees.

Altmire, D-4th, told the audience at the municipal building he understands the problems of rising health care costs.

The township has more than 1.9 million square feet of retail and restaurant space, which creates jobs that typically don't carry health insurance.

"The perception in Cranberry is that Cranberry's booming, it's doing great, businesses are doing well," Altmire said. "But you have the same challenges with health insurance that everybody else has in the country, and it's an everyday struggle on whether or not you're going to be able to continue offering health care to employees."

Altmire, a first-term representative, on June 9 introduced in Congress his Small Business Health Options Program Act, which would offer tax incentives to small businesses that provide health coverage to their employees.

His program would stabilize premiums by preventing insurance companies from basing their rates on employees' previous health claims or pre-existing conditions.

Randy Abramovic, who is president and CEO of Pro Source Integrated Marketing in the township, has been in business for more than 20 years and always offered health insurance to his 10 employees. That is until this year, when his provider terminated service after 15 years on grounds that Abramovic didn't meet their qualifications.

That's because a majority of his 10 employees opt out of his health plan because they have spouses working for UPMC or Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. He reluctantly got used to paying an increase of 12 to 17 percent a year. Now he has no idea where to turn for his employee coverage.

"The insurance companies are making it harder and harder (to stay in business) because their requirements keep getting stricter and stricter on small companies," he said. "Rates keep going up, we can't stop that so we pay it. It's not like I'm the one choosing not to provide insurance for myself and my employees."

Susan Balla, chairwoman of the Cranberry Chamber of Commerce board, frequently talks with scores of business owners and understands their inability and sometimes reluctance to offer their employees full health coverage.

"It creates a huge void," Bella said. "The mentality now of some of the small business owners is that this is just one thing they can cut from their budget and do later, just because of the affordability of it."

Altmire, who comes from a health care background, said he understands business owners' plight. He also understands the roadblocks created in Washington, D.C, by special interest groups and politicians on the other side of aisle.

That's why he's sought bipartisan support for his program and promised his audience this isn't a measure he'll let die without a fight.

"We want to take a sensible, incremental approach to fixing the problems that exist but also preserving what works in our current system," he said.

"I'm optimistic about it, and it's stories like these that we're hearing today that allow me to go back to Capitol Hill and advocate and talk about what's happening in our district."