by justinb
12. March 2010 14:56
The recent passage of the Senate health care bill paves the way for an up or down vote on health care reform. The million dollar question is what effect would health care reform have on creating new jobs and reducing the alarming jobless rate.
With more than 15 million Americans still out of work, you would think health care reform would be welcomed with open arms. Why? For starters history shows us that sweeping regulation almost always leads to job growth. So then why all the health care opposition? Well, history also shows us that lack of knowledge promotes fear which in turn equals opposition. Considering the government in general is not necessary recognized for efficiency, people naturally tend to think that health care reform would equate to inefficiency and inept medical treatment. The ironic part is just how efficient is health care, as is, today? With current overpaid overpriced health care treatment by medical workers with dollar signs in their eyes, you're lucky to not have a knee scape cost you a few thousand dollars. On top of that, with more and more doctors looking to deflect incompetence with medical malpractice insurance and civil damage jury award caps, its a no-brainer that medical treatment for most non wealthy Americans is an "at your own risk" encounter.
Sure, the Feds could and should do a great deal more in ensuring that if health care reform passes that it does not become a boondoggle. Even so, leaving the current system as is and allowing the burden to grow on society, in the form of uninsured treatment hidden coverage hikes, is simply foolish. As the old saying goes, there is no free lunch. You either pay now or you pay later - but indeed you do pay. All things considered it's probably better to pay a known fixed price that to keep dealing with hidden surcharges and fees that line the pockets of health care administrators under the guise of "increasing administrative costs."
Equally as important if not more important is that jobs will undoubtedly be created through revamping the health care system. The only question is how many jobs? You can bet there will be more than a few jobs necessary to implement the new infrastructure to support the system as well as people to manage it. So with all the training and implementation required you can expect long term jobs from health care reform for years to come. In essence, health care reform will create jobs and drive down the massive jobless figure of over 15 million unemployed. Of course, health care alone won't be enough to bring the unemployment rate in line with say 5% but its a solid start. Moreover, its probably the best idea on the table yet. That is, unless, you're one of those who favors reducing taxes on wealthy, thereby increasing the need to borrow and further inflating the national deficit so that China will own more and more of United States future. Now that ought to alarm folks more than health care reform. 