When it comes to health care reform and cap-and-trade legislation, Cassandra is not around to provide guidance.

And for many area businesses, that means relying on time-tested tactics for grappling with uncertainties.

For example, Herzog Contracting Corp. came close to pricing customer contracts to reflect future costs related to the health care overhaul.

But it’s a delicate proposition. Should the company act prematurely, it could lose ground to competitors that banked on congressional foot-dragging. In other words, it could price itself out of the market.

“We’ll put contingencies in our pricing relative to risk,” said Al Landes, president and chief operating officer at Herzog. “As of today, we have not put health care reform on our risk list.”

Democrats in the House and Senate are now reconciling their health care overhaul bills.

The original House bill included provisions requiring certain employers to offer coverage. If not, they would have to pay a financial penalty, deemed steep by many employers. The Senate version also seeks to impose financial penalties on certain firms not offering coverage, although they are less stringent.

Adding an extra layer of uncertainty, the health care overhaul was recently thrown into doubt when Republican Scott Brown won the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat.

After the Massachusetts special election, Herzog Contracting backed away from pricing contracts to reflect future costs related to the overhaul.

WireCo WorldGroup, another area business, settled on a rather straightforward way of approaching uncertainties stemming from the legislative process.

“We proceeded as if nothing would pass,” said David Hornaday, senior vice president of corporate administration for WireCo WorldGroup.

So far, their predictions are spot on, he noted.

“All you can do is monitor what is taking place and assess how it’s going to impact your business if something happens,” he said. “It can’t consume a lot of your time.”

Beyond health care reform, businesses also are eyeing climate change initiatives.

A proposed cap-and-trade scheme is on the back burner while Congress attends to health care reform and the financial regulatory overhaul.

The Obama administration endorsed a plan to cut overall U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. The House approved climate change legislation in June boasting the desired cuts, but the Senate has yet to act.

Carefully tracking the situation, Herzog Contracting considered adding cap and trade to its risk list. When the Senate failed to act, it backed off.

At times, dealing with Washington’s vacillations can be downright frustrating.

“There’s just a lot of uncertainty right now,” said Stet Schanze, president of Gray Manufacturing. “It’s hard to sort it all out.”

“We’ll just see how it all plays out,” he added. “Your guess is as good as mine at this point.”

Ryan Davis can be reached

at ryan.davis@npgco.com.