Health News
FactCheck.org: Health reform does not 'kill jobs'; GOP disagrees
In their report released last week, Republicans in the U.S. House said the new health reform law will be "job-killing," but
FactCheck.org has concluded that is not necessarily the case.
The Republican report, released Jan. 6 and entitled "Obamacare: A Budget-Busting, Job-Killing Health Care Law," cites a study predicting 1.6 million lost jobs, but "fails to mention that the study refers to a hypothetical employer mandate that is not part of the new law," FactCheck reports. It says the report also fails to mention that the same study predicts a gain of 890,000 jobs in hospitals, doctors' offices and insurance companies.
"There's little doubt that the new law will likely lead to somewhat fewer low-wage jobs," FactCheck reports. "That's mainly because of the law's requirement that, generally, firms with more than 50 workers pay a penalty if they fail to provide health coverage for their workers." John Sheils of
The Lewin Group said that loss would be between 150,000 and 300,000 jobs. But that loss would be partly offset by job growth in the health-care industry, says FactCheck, a service of the
University of Pennsylvania's Anneneberg Public Policy Center. (Read more)
However, Republicans like U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky's First District,
right, say the new health law will have fiscal and economic consequences. Their reports says it "contains a number of provisions that will eliminate jobs, reduce hours and wages, and limit future job creation." It further contends that studies show it will "cost taxpayers more than originally estimated and may exacerbate the nation's dire fiscal condition."
Whitfield said in a statement on Jan. 7, "We must repeal the job-killing Obamacare health bill and enact solutions that lead to quality care without costing much needed jobs or placing onerous burdens on America's small business owners." Whitfield is the new chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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Factcheck.org Takes Apart Attacks On Obamacare
FactCheck.org is a non-profit, non-partisan center in the Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania. It blows the whistle on misleading advertising and other statements of political figures. The center tries to balance its analyses between the...
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Watch Out For Specious Claims About Health-reform Law In Highly Politicized Debate; Sen. Paul Among Those Found Off Base
The biggest story in the state and nation is about to be Tuesday's opening of online health-insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, under the federal health reform law. "Obamacare" has been politicized from the start, and the current debate has featured...
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Are Fallacies About Health Reform Becoming Accepted Wisdom? Former New York Times Editor Bill Keller Says He Fears So
"A number of fallacies seem to be congealing into accepted wisdom" about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, former New York Times editor Bill Keller writes for the paper. The myths, he says, are that (1) the law is killing jobs, (2) it's...
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Pat Boone Commercial About Medicare Has Many Inaccuracies
A television commerical misleads seniors into believing the federal health-care reform law will ration and deny care and contains other inaccuracies, according to FactCheck.org, a non-partisan, non-profit service based at the University of Pennsylvania....
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White House Officials Blast Effort To Repeal Health-care Reform
As House Republicans planned to pass a bill tomorrow that would repeal last year's Affordable Care Act for health care and health insurance, officials of a freshly business-friendly Obama administration said today that repeal makes "bad business sense."...
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