Per-Person and Jobs Cost of Current Healthcare Reform Legislation
Kishore Jethanandani
The Heartland Institute, February 2010
Available
online
As states across the country await the outcome of President Obama's push for wide-reaching health care reforms, a new study indicates the consequences could be dire for some states and businesses. The Illinois Policy Institute has released new research on the likely impact of the health care reforms currently under consideration in Congress on job growth and the economy in Illinois and across the country.
Focusing on the nationwide impact, the study estimates the proposed reforms will cause job losses of 3.9 million, with $3,900 in costs for each person, and an economy that shrinks by 4.9 percent by 2019.
The research also finds that small companies are especially vulnerable to rising costs of health care. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is cited as saying that state laws will have many more mandates, which raise costs. Additionally, the proposed health care reform bills gut Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and will increase the cost of each employee's benefits package dramatically.
