Posted on 06/04/2012 2:26:15 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
California could gain as much as 100,000 jobs and $4.4 billion in economic spillover if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds President Barack Obama's health care plan, according to a report.
A Bay Area Council Economic Institute report says the San Joaquin Valley would see employment rise by more than 3,500 jobs and its economy expand by $65 million.
Had the health care law taken full effect in 2010, the report says California's economy - helped by federal and state subsidies - would have received a $6.7 billion boost from new spending on doctors, hospitals, medical device manufacturers and the hiring of additional employees "who will then spend more money on food, clothing and shelter, among other things.''
The boost far outweighs the economic cost of requiring more employers to pay for their workers' insurance.
In addition, the report concludes that many consumers - particularly in more affluent areas - would have more disposable income as the result of lower insurance premiums.
A healthier population would also take a more active part in the labor market and miss fewer days for sickness.
The findings add fodder to those who argue that the law will have a positive effect on the economy.
Most of the debate over the Affordable Health Care Act has focused on its mandate that everyone buy insurance and its ban on insurance companies denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
The mandate is being challenged in the Supreme Court and a decision is expected by the end of the month.
The report seeks to break down the law's overall economic impact on California and suggests it would serve as a large stimulus. The study was conducted by the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored, public policy advocacy organization based in San Francisco.
"It is important to emphasize that the Affordable Care Act was not designed to be an economic stimulus bill ... that the law also will have a significant positive economic impact is a strong corollary benefit to a policy change designed to achieve other ends,'' the report says.
The law aims to expand coverage to 30 million Americans, including 7 million in California, who are uninsured.
In San Joaquin County, roughly one in five residents lack health insurance.
By analyzing how money saved on premiums and how subsidies for insurance will be recycled, the report concludes that the multiplying effect will boost the economy.
The conclusions are hardly surprising to many economists who have studied the financial consequences of this law, said the report's author, Micah Weinberg.
Weinberg said the analysis is a conservative one, and the assertion that the bill will harm the economy "has no real ground in reality.''
Republicans in Washington say the health law will add more than $100 billion to the debt, and some conservative economists cast doubt the report's optimistic assumptions.
"We have heard countless times that recycling our tax dollars through Washington, D.C., magically multiplies economic growth. But it never works out that way," said John R. Graham, director of Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco, which filed a brief before the Supreme Court challenging the law's constitutionality.
"Instead, the state and federal governments collaborate to prey upon taxpayers while both levels of government go into debt," he said.
The job gains will not significantly change California's unemployment rate, which is just below 11 percent. But the law is expected to add 87,800 jobs - a 0.6 percent increase - the vast majority being a result of medical care spending.
Not surprisingly, the sector of the economy that will benefit the most is the health care and social-assistance industry with roughly 46,700 new jobs.
The infusion of new jobs and subsidies would lead to a $4.4 billion economic gain for the state, which represents 0.23 percent of its $1.9 trillion gross state product.
There are significant differences by region within the state.
Valley employment could rise as much as 1.3 percent, while the estimate for the Bay Area is 0.2 percent.
*******
The California News Service is a journalism project of the University of California Washington Center and the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. Email the California News Service at cns@ucdc.edu.
But we had it on the best authority (Pelosi, Reid, and Obama) that ObamaCare would save money. How can they say that it would add $6.7B in medical spending in just this one area? Also, where will the money come from when both CA and the federal government are running massive, unsustainable deficits? Do the liberals have a plan for that, and is their plan as destructive as the rest of their ideas?
The broken-window fallacy is alive and well. Ignored in this study are all the taxes required to support the subsidies that allegedly create all these beneficial effects. Once these “hidden” dollars are taken into account, all the magical job-creating properties of tax spending disappear (worse, they actually get far smaller once it is recognized that every dollar of taxes results in 44 cents of lost economic output due to the economic distortions caused http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/congress-should-account-excess-burden-taxation).
Politicians should be forced to stand at a blackboard writing “Every tax dollar is a private dollar not spent somewhere else” 500 times before being sworn into office. Economic illiteracy is a huge drain on our economy.
These people are far, far beyond merely delusional. They’re NUTS!
They are having a wet dream and when they wake up all they will have is a wet sheet.
LOL! I need that laugh this morning; so damned true! Thanks.
Keynesian multiplier effect garbage again. The unseen by these economists is the effects on the economy caused by taking this money from somewhere else.
Hahahahaha - this is beyond stupid
oh yeah, 3500 new jobs?
They will most likely be in the form of enforcing agents and investigators of those that refuse the pogrom.
File this tripe under propaganda...mark Claire down as a Democratic operative on Axelrods payroll....
“Had the health care law taken full effect in 2010, the report says California’s economy - helped by federal and state subsidies - would have received a $6.7 billion boost from new spending on doctors, hospitals, medical device manufacturers and the hiring of additional employees”
Money comes from where? Obama’s stash?
First, there is now way on this planet that health premiums will go down. EVER!
Second, the writer just glosses over that employers will be paying more for health insurance. Hey, dumbass writer! Those costs will hurt the employer when attempting to add new employees or stay competitive in the market.
Finally, when TAXES like the 3.8% fee added to the sales of homes begin, that effect will have a negative impact on the housing market.
This country is handicapped by some of the dumbest people around.
For the common good.
Where have I heard that before?
-—For the common good.
Where have I heard that before?——
The Constitution’s “general welfare” phrase? It’s a synonymous term.
The common good is the first principle of government. It’s the concept by which we can justify sending some citizens to war, to defend society as a whole.
Don’t reject the idea because the Left has abused it. The classical definition is not antithetical to individual rights, but precedes them. We uphold individual rights because they serve the common good —they’re good for everyone.
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