Stunned expressions and headshaking were visible at Thursday’s Impact 2010 Luncheon Series sponsored by South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce and Vulcan Inc.

Business leaders on hand at the Elberta Civic Center heard Katie Hays of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce address the new Healthcare Reform Bill’s impact on business. More paperwork for businesses, mention of the word “trillion” and references several times to hundreds of billions - numbers relating to dollars - and 16,500 new jobs projected for the IRS in keeping up with reform measures no doubt took attendees’ minds off the Gulf oil spill momentarily and put them square on land.

Hays is executive director in the U.S. Chamber’s Congressional and Public Affairs Division and is the Chamber’s lead lobbyist on healthcare and health reform issues.

A “huge, huge bill” is the way Hays referred to the 2,800 page Healthcare Reform Bill signed into law on March 23, 2010.

Perhaps “the most significant, all-encompassing piece of legislation ever enacted into law” is another way she described it.

“We sat in meeting after meeting,” Hays said of the U.S. Chamber’s input into deliberations with national leaders concerning healthcare reform leading up to the bill’s signing. Her conclusion regarding national leaders: “At the end of the day they must not have had employers’ best interest at heart.”

The U.S. Chamber supported a number of healthcare initiatives, Hays said. Those included “bending the cost curve” of healthcare insurance by focusing on wellness and prevention. Also, the Chamber supported insurance market reforms, such as no preexisting conditions, and payment and medical liability reforms.

According to Hays, the Chamber opposed a government run healthcare plan and any attempts to “pierce” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established health, welfare and pension plans in the private sector. She said the Chamber also opposed employer mandates on health coverage, which she said are now changing from “voluntary” to “mandatory” with the passage of the Healthcare Reform Bill.

As for what the U.S. Chamber is doing in the aftermath of the Heathcare Reform Bill being signed into law, Hays said many no doubt wish the Chamber would work to repeal the bill.

“For the next two years, it will be difficult to repeal the bill as a whole,” Hays said, noting the Chamber will not work to do so. She noted President Obama has said he will veto any legislation that appears to be an attempt at repeal.

As a result the Chamber will work on a number of fronts, one of those being working with national leaders who will work on specific revisions within the bill. “Tweak,” Hays said.

She also noted there are two election cycles before 2014, when President Obama’s term ends. She alluded to one polling source that showed disapproval with the U.S. Congress at 71 percent.

“That disapproval of Congress is real,” Hays said at one point, noting that some incumbents are losing races or dropping out of re-election campaigns while others are retiring. She noted that Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, isn’t very well liked at present in his home state of Nevada.

Hays said the Chamber will work legislatively on “ongoing fixes” to the bill in Congress. She also noted a legal front and the fact that 19 states including Alabama have filed suit on the constitutionality of individual mandates within the bill.

“This is far from over,” Hays said, noting that the heathcare system changes that will occur after 2012 are “fair game” in particular. The most significant changes in the reform bill will occur from 2014 to 2018, she said.

While the Healthcare Reform Bill itself is huge, Hays said tens of thousands of pages of guidance will be coming out on the bill from various federal government departments.

One of the reform changes on which Hays spent time is one that goes into effect in 2012, that being the 1099 reporting requirement. Businesses will have to complete 1099 forms for every business-to-business transaction of $600 or more.

“The paperwork will be a nightmare,” Hays said, noting the Chamber is supporting proposed legislation that would repeal that.