There's no doubt our health-care system needs to be reformed. Unfortunately, most of the proposals coming out of Congress provide the wrong prescription.

The House and Senate left town for the month of August without passing a health-care reform bill. Many small-business owners believe it's a good thing that the process has slowed. Members of Congress will hold town hall meetings and various events in their districts during the recess. Now's the time to visit with them and tell them how you want the health-care system in this country to work.

In the House of Representatives, three different committees approved their version of the bill, now known as HR 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. The House will likely vote on the 1,000-page health-care bill in September, and at this point we know very few details about the legislation. Let's hope our representatives actually read the legislation between now and then.

What we do know about the House proposal is that it would increase taxes, cost $1 trillion and create a new government-controlled insurance market--without doing much to reform the system. And many of us who own or run small businesses would be left paying the bill. Remember what Thomas Jefferson said: "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have."

The goal of the House bill is to insure 50 million people who currently lack health care. It mandates that coverage, expands the Medicaid program and forces businesses to provide health insurance or be subject to a payroll tax.

To pay for new spending, House Democrats are proposing a surtax on individuals who make $280,000 or more a year, although there have been discussions about raising the limit to $500,000 or more (the tax would range from 1 percent to 5.4 percent). The more money you make, the more the tax rises. The proposal doesn't include exemptions for S corporations or other small businesses, many of which file as individuals for tax purposes. In fact, it's likely that the surtax will affect the income of half of all small businesses with 20 to 249 employees.

There has been a lot of talk about how a group of conservative House Democrats worked to make the health-care reform bill better for small businesses. The "compromise" deal being highlighted still imposes costly new taxes and mandates on small employers with an average of 17 or more employees.

It imposes new taxes on more than 840,000 small businesses, which employ 70 percent of all workers, or 42.3 million people. And the small employers targeted by the "deal" provide $1.5 trillion in wages for their employees. What's more, this "deal" still imposes the full 8 percent payroll tax on small businesses with only 32 employees. For most small-business owners, that is no deal.

There is enough in the House health-care reform bill to make everyone feel a little sick. Fortunately, it is only one piece of the puzzle.

The Senate is still working to finalize its health-care legislation. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions passed a bill out of committee in mid-July. It didn't pick up any bipartisan support and is likely to be replaced with a reform package being developed by a small group of Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans. The proposal that is emerging is likely to cost less, mandate less and not rely on taxes or surcharges on businesses to fund the program--a big improvement from the House bill, but it's still too early to tell what it will mean for small businesses.

The reform efforts have a long way to go. Even if legislation passes both the House and Senate, a conference committee made up of House and Senate members will have to work out the differences between the two bills--and those differences are expected to be significant.

What is missing from the health-care debate is innovative solutions that will actually reform the system. Our policy makers should develop policies that give small-business owners more choices when it comes to health care, choices that allow them to determine what works best for their company and their employees. Expanding health savings accounts or allowing small-business owners to band together across state lines to pool their resources for coverage are better alternatives than new taxes and more mandates from Washington.

Congress needs to take its time and get it right. During the month of August, members need to hear how the current health-care reform proposals will impact small-business owners and the economy. They need to hear from all of us that any reforms must protect small businesses from tax increases and expensive mandates. There is too much at stake for our economy to rush through a reform bill that would only make our health-care problems worse.

Spend your time in August talking with your elected officials. Your voice is the most important voice this month.