Many issues swirl around the topic of health insurance when it comes to small business. It’s a subject that plagues small businesses and threatens to slow the real growth needed to pull out of the recession. Small business owners have long been penalized in the effort to offer insurance to their employees and those with pre-existing medical conditions don’t have the option of jumping in and starting a business for fear they won’t be able to acquire insurance they can afford.

The Council of Economic Advisers in the White House released a new report on the impact health insurance reform would have on small businesses. In an interesting use of social media the White House solicited feedback on the report from LinkedIn members using LinkedIn’s popular Question and Answers feature. CEA Chair Christina Romer answered some of the most penetrating responses in a live video online discussion at WhiteHouse.gov on Wednesday, July 29th.

I was asked to help select a handful of questions that represented the most pressing issues from the hundreds that were submitted and I can tell you this issue is an emotional hot button for business owners.

Here are some highlights of the questions from LinkedIn members.