With all do respect to Senator Toomey, I am afraid he has misinterpreted the recent report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). His recent letter to the editor suggests that Obamacare would “cost millions of jobs and slow economic growth”.
But that isn’t what the CBO report says. The report predicts that because of Obamacare, workers will have the flexibility, with healthcare no longer being tied to their employment, to choose to leave their full-time positions. In other words, Obamacare empowers workers to make decisions that work for them rather than having to rely on a system that ties healthcare to full-time employment. I can give you a few examples:
- A woman who is working full-time for health benefits because her husband owns his own small business can now quit her job to help her husband or go part-time to spend more time with her children; her family can purchase affordable health insurance through the market place.
- A couple that wants to explore their dream of opening their own business but because of pre-existing conditions, obtaining health care was once either impossible (because companies could simply reject them) or financially inconceivable. Thanks to Obamacare, they can purchase healthcare and not have to worry about those pesky pre-existing conditions AND explore the American dream of owning their own business and being their own employer.
- Or that man that has to work two or three part-time jobs just to make enough money to pay for his costly medications. Even with his pre-existing conditions, he can now have access to affordable healthcare and spend less time at work and more time with his family.
For each job Toomey claims will be lost is likely one, as a few of these examples illustrate, that will be given up by someone who can spend more time with his/her family. Plus these lost jobs open up opportunities for the millions of unemployed Americans.
It’s like that one liberal said a few years ago: “The key question that ought to be addressed in any healthcare reform legislation is, are we going to continue job-lock or are we going to allow individuals more choice and portability to fit the 21st century workforce?”.
Oh wait, this quote is by Republican Congressman, and tea party favorite, Paul Ryan.
You see…. Obamacare actually does exactly what conservatives have advocated for in the past: health care reform that empowers Americans to take a better job, change careers, go to school, or even raise a family.
Giving Americans the choice to not work themselves to death just to have basic healthcare….that is Obamacare. You’re welcome, America!
As I say with every letter I write regarding Obamacare, it sure isn’t perfect. We need at the very least a public option if not full blown universal healthcare. For now, people who have lacked quality health insurance are getting the care they need. It is a start.