As Utahn Betsy Burton participated Tuesday in a White House conference on how health-care reform may affect small businesses, she found she and the administration agree that health insurance will soon be unaffordable unless reform passes soon.

"Health care has really gotten so out of hand economically for small business that it's not sustainable any more. It's over a third of our payroll," said Burton, owner of the King's English Bookshop.

"Years ago, when we started out, it was 5 percent, then 10 percent. It's been ratcheting up to the point that I have to make a choice between dropping health care or going out of business," she said.

Small-business owners from around the nation were invited to the White House to talk about such effects Tuesday, including Utahns Burton; Dulci Beaslin, owner of Nail Jazz in Holladay; and Murray Chamber of Commerce President Scott Baker.

"We don't have health care at Nail Jazz, and we can't afford to offer it," Beaslin said. "I would love to be able to do that. Right now, my family and I also do not have insurance." She said the only way she sees that it may become affordable is if reform passes.

Burton added, "We're not alone. That's pretty much across the board what small businesses are seeing. We have no bargaining power because we are small, and prices are going up 20 percent a year. The future looks darker, not brighter."

Both Burton and Beaslin say they see health-care reform as the only potential savior for small business when it comes to affording health insurance.

"This is our chance. If health-care reform happens, and if it happens now, there's time to salvage the situation," Burton said.

"I honestly believe that if something isn't done, small businesses will start going out of business quite rapidly all across the country. And if they think health-care reform is expensive, if a millions of small businesses start going broke, the effect on the economy will be more catastrophic than anything that's happened yet," she said.

"I think it's absolutely vital that we do something now," Burton said.

e-mail: lee@desnews.com