Study: ObamaCare Could Kill Up to 700,000 Jobs
Nancy Pelosi says ObamaCare will create “400,000 jobs almost immediately.” But:
Speaker Pelosi bases her claim on a report by the Center for American Progress (CAP) in which the Center estimates that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) would create 250,000 to 400,000 jobs per year over 10 years. This estimate by CAP amounts to a hurried effort to add academic heft to the claim that national health care reform offers a collateral benefit in the form of an economic “stimulus.”
It turns out, however, that its methodology, stripped of unsupportable claims about savings in health care costs, shows just the opposite of what CAP intended. PPACA is a job killer, not a job creator. Using the CAP methodology, we find that the bill would destroy a total of 120,000 to 700,000 jobs by 2019, a far cry from the number suggested by leading advocates.
Full study from Beacon Hill Institute here.
Even if it did create 400,000 jobs, what would those jobs be doing, and who would be footing the bill?
I bet the IRS has added tens of thousands of jobs over the past 90 years, but no one would argue that the IRS improves the American economy. Anything that increases administrative overhead or relies on businesses/individuals to support it is a drag on this nation’s well-being.
Even if this bill created 10,000,000 jobs, it would still be bad for the country because it doesn’t improve our productivity.
On balance the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will be a drag on hiring because an employer mandate amounts to a tax on labor. If the cost of hiring workers is increased by a significant percentage, employers will substitute capital (i.e. machines) for labor. Or employers will merely hire fewer workers when workers’ costs exceed their productivity. The only jobs the PPACA will create are jobs for bureaucrats, regulators and (potentially) health care workers who have to provide the services that universal coverage is supposed to fund. There is no cost control in the legislation. Even the Congressional Budget Office acknowledges the growth in spending is not likely to slow.
Pelosi is a poster child for everything that is wrong in Washington.
I agree with Charles.
Nancy Pelosi is no mensch, but rather a Menshevik. This is one of the many times that her lies caught up with her.
This is what is known as being hoisted on your own petard.
Interesting! I am always skeptical of claims of “job creation,” as such rhetoric rarely considers the associated costs. Thanks for pointing out the article!
You folks may be a bit too harsh with Nancy Pelosi. After all don’t forget her famously TRUTHFUL line: “We have to pass the bill so you can see what’s in it.”
Well, now we’re seeing what’s in it!
I’m sure it will create a myriad of jobs BUT ALL IN THE GOVERNMENT SECTOR! obama has used that ploy before to say that there was an increase in employment