Kevin Shivers, the Executive State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business, explained that the small business meeting was the 28th his group had held in Pennsylvania this year.

“This is a chance for our members to talk with our elected representatives. It’s a starting point for our lawmakers to know what concerns and issues small business owners are facing,” Shivers said. “Too often small and independent businesses are busy running their operations to stay up-to-date on what’s going on in Harrisburg and Washington.”

Many of the business owners present talked about having more affordable healthcare, particularly deductibles, better broadband access for their businesses and more money for education.

Congressman Glenn Thompson, the U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s 5th congressional district, state Rep. Donna Oberlander and state Sen. Scott Hutchinson were on hand to answer some of questions and concerns.

Milissa Bauer, Executive Vice President of Kriebel Companies, spoke about how poor the broadband access is in so many parts of the area.

“I think that would be one area that government could be very helpful in,” Bauer said. “It’s hard to believe how poor it can be in certain areas, and it’s a true hindrance to getting things done.”

“Also, we’re seeing our families dealing with the effects of Obamacare. They have higher deductibles, there are paying higher rates.”

Thompson said he didn’t see a lot of good things happening with Obamacare.

“We see insurance companies merging, which is kind of unheard of, hospitals merging, physician practices merging, so we have less competition. And, I think more competition in the private sector is how you have lower prices and higher quality,” Thompson said.

Another topic of discussion was the gas industry and its dealings with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

State Sen. Scott Hutchinson said he believes Pennsylvania’s future is tied to energy.

“We have so many sources of energy, and that is our competitive advantage. It can be used to provide cheap energy for businesses that want to relocate here, feed stock for businesses that rely on petroleum products for secondary processing. As a country, it makes the U.S. not dependent on volatile regions.”

The sky’s the limit if we do it the right way, and I do think we do have very stringent regulations on that in Pennsylvania and I think we should quit upping that ante and allow Pennsylvania to grow,” Hutchinson said.

Lisa Goth, President of the Charles Leach Agency, talked about education.

“I’m concerned with the lack of funding for education in our area,” Goth said. “People are making choices on where to live and work based on the quality of education their kids can get.”