ST PETER — Congressman Tim Walz did some listening and some talking with St. Peter business owners Thursday, seeking opinions on reviving the economy.

But Walz also found himself justifying his support for Democratic bills that would dramatically change how medical care is provided.

In Julee’s Jewelry, the two purposes of the St. Peter visit merged as the Mankato Democrat heard Julee Johnson’s story. Johnson talked of the challenges of being a small business owner and the mother of an adult son struggling with a brain tumor.

A major reconstruction project — funded by the economic stimulus bill Walz supported — shut down St. Peter’s main drag, rising gold prices and the deep recession all hit at the same time, Johnson said.

“Two weeks later we learned that Trevor has a brain tumor,” Johnson said.

She talked about how the current health care system means that her son might never have the flexibility to seek a different job because his pre-existing condition forces him to hold onto his current health insurance.

Johnson mentioned that her son has had to fight to get his doctor-prescribed chemotherapy covered and that insurance-company delays have disrupted the precisely-timed chemotherapy regimen.

“So that would be a case of the insurance company getting between the doctor and the patient?” Walz said.

Walz told the story at later stops on the tour, which included a larger meeting at the Riverrock coffee shop. Skepticism about the federal health care reform effort, which stalled after Democrats lost a Senate seat in a special election in Massachusetts, was obvious at several of the businesses.

“I’d like to see everybody have (insurance), but I can’t pay more,” said Rose Rustman, store manager at Arrow Ace Hardware in St. Peter. “... I sensed that it’s going to impact me negatively.”

Walz said Democrats in Congress and the White House failed to make the case for how the plan would help people who already have insurance. But he continued to argue on behalf of the bill’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions and the cost control measures in the legislation, which attempts to pay health care providers based on healthy outcomes rather than reimbursing them for the number of procedures performed.

Chad DeBlieck, owner of St. Peter Lumber, was similarly uncertain about additional federal intervention in health care.

“I guess I’m not a huge supporter of government getting involved in health care,” DeBlieck said, wondering if medical malpractice reform might help more.

Walz said he would support efforts to reduce malpractice costs but said they are only a small percentage of the overall cost of medical care. His office backed that up, citing the National Association of Insurance Commissioners figures that the total medical malpractice premiums in 2008 totaled $11.2 billion — less than a half-percent of the $2.6 trillion in health expenditures that year.

More aggressive cost-control is needed if America is going to survive the skyrocketing insurance rate increases of recent years, Walz said. That’s also key for American businesses to remain competitive against foreign rivals with lower medical costs.

DeBlieck agreed that it’s increasingly difficult to provide health care benefits to employees, as did Gus Davis, St. Peter’s Culligan man. DeBlieck said he’s forced to spend a large amount of time shopping for better insurance rates every year.

And Davis, who for years has covered 100 percent of the cost of medical coverage for his employees and their spouses, said his insurance expenses have reached $36,000 a year.

“This year went up 26 percent,” he said.

Davis said his primary concern about federal health care reform is the potential for even deeper government deficits.

“My fear really is the debt we’re passing on to our grandchildren,” Davis said.

That was a concern for DeBlieck as well. He complimented federal and state efforts to boost the construction economy through incentives for homeowners to put in energy-efficient windows and doors.

“It’s been a real blessing,” DeBlieck said.

But he said it’s hard to know how to balance stimulus efforts with the growing burden of debt.

“In the short term, it certainly helps business,” he said. “How does it get paid for in the long term? That’s the question.”

DeBlieck was pleased, however, to see his congressman looking for input from Main Street — or Front Street in this case.

“I’ve never met him,” DeBlieck said. “I think it’s great that he’s out and about.”