Health Care Reform isn't a "Job-Killer"

While Republican claims about the “budget-busting” health bill have been refuted by the Congressional Budget Office, Factcheck.org has produced a report exposing Republican claims about the health care bill destroying jobs.

A report issued by Speaker of the House John Boehner’s office contains two sources for GOP claims that health care reform will “eliminate jobs, reduce hours and wages, and limit future job creation.” Unfortunately for the Speaker, neither of these reports actually say these things.

First, Boehner’s office cites a report from the CBO in August that says the law will reduce the “amount of labor used in the economy by … roughly half a percent…” What they don’t mention is that the CBO predicted this is mostly a reduction in the amount people choose to work, as oppose to the amount of work available. The CBO finds that, because of the wide spread access to affordable insurance, many will retire earlier or work less than they otherwise would have.

Factcheck.org also finds issue with the Speaker’s use of a National Federation of Independent Business report projecting 1.6 million jobs lost. According to Factcheck.org: “The NFIB did not study the new law. Its report was based on a hypothetical employer mandate that bears little resemblance to what was actually passed.” The NFIB report was released over a year before the final law was written and the organization has yet to produce an updated projection based on the legislation as passed.

-- Factcheck.org / Speaker.gov

As an interesting side note to the report by Fackcheck.org, Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post wrote an article last week about the GOP’s increased use of the “Job-killing” epithet. He makes the following good point:

What's particularly noteworthy about this fixation with "job killing" is that it stands in such contrast to the complete lack of concern about policies that kill people rather than jobs.

Repealing health-care reform, for instance, would inevitably lead to thousands of unnecessary deaths each year because of an inability to get medical care.

-- Washington Post