Global consulting firm Towers Watson released the results of a survey that revealing that a majority of small business owners --- those the President has targeted to receive tax breaks is they hire workers --- believe that any sort of health care reform handed down from Washington will have a negative effect on their costs, likely making the proposed tax breaks completely useless.

According to the Watson study, 71 percent of all employers think that health care reform will actually increase the cost of their employee benefit programs. More than a third said reform will actually cut the number of small businesses that subsidize a portion of their group health insurance plan. Only about 27 percent of the survey respondents said that health care reform would result in no change to the overall cost of doing business. But this group is also the least likely to be offering employee benefits to their workforce anyway.

"These survey data confirm quantitatively what many people -- employers, employees and policy pundits -- have been talking about for months," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. "Whatever else a health care reform plan might do, it is unlikely to control health care costs, which has everyone worried."

When compared to its middle- and large-sized counterparts, small business employees participating in the study said they would be less likely to obtain individual health insurance on the open market when compared to employer-sponsored plans. Respondents indicated that they did not feel they fully understand enough about health insurance coverage or the health insurance companies themselves to be able to make an informed decision about what type of plan they should choose.

The only positive element in the survey is the fact that most of the people who said they wouldn't likely save any money on health insurance admitted that if reform were to make its way to the business level (in the way of mandates or employer-sponsored benefit programs), their choice of health insurance plans would be enhanced. The opinions gathered from the Watson study mirror those of the Republican party who by and large favor keeping health insurance on the open market. Proponents of the status quo believe that mandating health insurance coverage for all Americans and/or making family health insurance the medical cornerstone of every household would only lead to increased health insurance premiums and less competition for new business.

The Obama Administration and the Senate are currently hashing through details of a possible public health insurance exchange, whereby individuals would be forced to select from a variety of pre-built health insurance plans with subsidies that would be based on the amount of household income. This measure is widely expected to fail, since it was proposed as part of a move to require health insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Health insurance companies say the risk to their business would be significant because if such a mandate were to pass, only sick (i.e. - expensive to cover) people would obtain insurance.