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Friday, January 08, 2010

Small Biz Health Care Daily: More Economic Fantasies

The January 8 Los Angeles Times offers a report on more fantastical assertions being made about big government health care by two left-wing economists.

The Times noted:

National healthcare legislation in Congress could slow the growth of medical costs, allowing employers to create 250,000 to 400,000 new jobs a year over the next decade, economists from Harvard University and USC are predicting.

Wading into the hotly debated issue of whether the legislation is a job creator or a job killer, researchers from the two universities say that the reforms under consideration would slow the rate of cost increases and free up money for companies to raise wages and hire more workers.

Specifically, healthcare savings could be achieved through proposals for greater competition in insurance markets, better coordination of care and shrinking administrative expenses, they said in a report to be released today. With those changes, employers could then reallocate money now spent on ever-growing premiums to other business priorities.


Golly – the miracle of big government! Who knew?

In reality, of course, the measures being pushed in Congress and by the Obama administration would achieve the exact opposite. For example, mandates, regulations and taxes will reduce competition and drive up costs. More government involvement will create a wide array of inefficiencies. Businesses and individuals will face increased costs in the forms of higher taxes, increased premiums, reduced choices and control, and eventually, rationing of care.

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

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