The numbers for employment just came out last week and the American economy added over 100,000 jobs. Now the Republican Party will tell us that the reason job growth in this country is slow is due to regulations, specifically, ObamaCare.
If this was the case, the industry that is directly regulation should be the first to lose jobs and stop hiring. So let’s look into the healthcare employment numbers.
Just in the month of September of 2011, the healthcare industry added 44,000 jobs, with 13,000 being in hospitals and 26,000 in ambulatory services.
Let’s look into the numbers according to the Bureau Of Labor and Statistics.
In April of 2010 when the law was signed the hospitals of America had 4,675,000 employees. Today that numbers stands at 4,774,000 that is an an increase of 100,000 employees in a year and a half. The entire healthcare industry in April of 2010 had 13,739,000 and in September of 2011 it has 14,180,000 which is an an increase of 441,000 employees in a year and a half.
There are two issues we need to discuss concerning these figures. One is the Republican talking point that Obamacare is killing the economy. This is an obvious lie, considering the very industry that it regulates is adding almost a half a million jobs in 18 months. Secondly, we need to look at what is causing this increased hiring.
One statistic that would increase hiring is our aging population. This increased demand for services by our older generation is forcing hospitals, ambulatory services and other areas of this industry to hire more people to keep up with the increased patients.
The second issue is specifically Obamacare itself. Could the healthcare industry have increased its hiring due to the fact that people from the ages of 18-26 years old are still allowed to stay on their parents’ insurance? These people would have otherwise been uninsured and been unable to see a doctor. Since the healthcare law was signed, offices of physicians have increased their employment by almost 75,000. Why would doctors’ offices increase hiring under these “oppressive” regulations?
In either scenario, what these statistics show is the Republican talking point of a job killing law is an absolute fabricated lie meant to make people “scared” of the healthcare law. This law isn’t killing any jobs at all. If it was, this industry would have been the bell weather.
A contributing factor to the slowness of our economic recovery is the manufacturing sector’s increased access to slave labor countries. America’s manufacturing is moving to low wage countries rather than pay Americans to produce their goods. The second reason for the slow recovery is the banking sector not releasing their capital into the market. Even if there is increased demand for their product or service, a tight credit market doesn’t allow small businesses to expand and hire more people.
Wall Street is causing this slow recovery, whether forcing companies to outsource production to low wage countries to increase their own value in their portfolios or restricting lending to small businesses.
So the next time a conservative is on the radio telling you that Obamacare is the reason businesses are not hiring, call in and tell them these facts. Education is the most important part of the political debate and being active in the discussion is the first action you can take towards righting the ship.
PoliticusUSA
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La Zingaro
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
There you go again, making sense with numbers and logic. Nice!
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Moongal6
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
As a recently retired ICD-9 Medical Coder and insurance biller…I say yeah!
Many of these jobs in the Healthcare field are not just hands on patient care, every runny nose at the physicians office has to be accurately coded, not to mention long term care, hospital stays and everything in between.
With more people now having access to care, more people will be able to have preventative care. And all this will create new jobs.
PPACA is a boon to all!
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Shiva (Moderator)
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
I got a bad feeling the GOP is not going to like this, and it even worse feeling that you’re not going to hear it on Fox news.
I wonder what the polls are going to be next time around concerning repealing healthcare.
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Anne
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Thanks for this article!! It completely refutes the lies the GOP regularly spews in an effort to stir up anger and fear. In the years that they dominated Congress, along with a Republican president, they did nothing at all to reform health care. They don’t want to allow anything that works because they are trying to keep Barack Obamaa from being
re-elected, and they don’t care if countless Americans get hurt by their antics.
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bottybrown
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
So, any evidence that Obamacare caused this increase in hiring as opposed to let’s say, a higher demand for services from an aging population? Oh, right, facts don’t matter. Whatever is convenient to defend Obama’s policies is all that matters. When insurance costs went up, it’s definitely not Obamacare. When an industry hires more people, oh yeah it’s all Obamacare. Clearly you people need your heads checked.
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Cleo17
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
thats right bottybrown..facts don’t matter but lies sure do to your type. You just can’t like your party–and won’t admit that this president has tried to do good things for people. Something rw constituents wouldn’t know because their heads are so far up their anus they just don’t see the GOP for what it is. BUNCH OF HATEFUL MEAN SPIRITED MONEY HUNGRY PEOPLE..JUST FLAT OUT AWFUL PARTY!
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Shiva (Moderator)
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Obviously you cannot dispute that it was Obama care. Obviously you are not aware that many new healthcare organizations are springing up with lower payments. In fact you are obviously not aware.
Why do you post when you have nothing to say?
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Celia
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
google….is fox allowed to broadcast news in canada??????????????????? canada has regulations….to report the news there it has to be the truth…….that is why fox is out of canada…they lie suckers…..google it fool
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Maple
Oct. 11th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
You’re absolutely right, Celia! No need to google, just take this Canuck’s word for it. Outright lying through the media is NOT allowed. And if you can, try watching some Canadian newscasts. Canadian news, world news, U.S. news — it’s all there. And, we have hate laws which are enforced. I heart my country!
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Johnee
Oct. 11th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
” We have hate laws which are enforced.” You’ve got to be f***ing kidding! This is something to be proud of? I’m sooo glad the Canadian thought police can tell people what to think and feel.
As I said in a previous post, I am in 100% agreement with the Canadian law that prohibits fabrication and out right lying in the media ( Fox Noise ). However Maple, you opened up a can of worms with your statement about hate laws. Sorry, but being an artist, this is an issue that is near and dear to me, and I know cartoonists and artists that have experienced Canada’s censoring of their material ( I’ve seen their stuff and it’s a HUGE leap to call ANY of it “hate” material ).
A lot of people may say ‘geez, why doesn’t this guy climb off Canada’s a**? After all, they’ve made great strides in the human rights arena with gay marriage and universal health care.’ Hey, no argument there. As matter of fact, these are two of the biggest things I admire about Canada. That is why it is so frustratingly inconsistent in an otherwise liberal democracy, to have Big Brother monitoring what people can think or say.
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Ray Medeiros
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
BOTTYBROWN,
So if a company is NOT hiring it is because OF ObamaCare and NOT demand. But if the healthcare industry is hiring it is because of demand.
I agree with what you are saying by the way. If you actually read the article you would have seen that. I said in the article that ObamaCare is increasing DEMAND due to more people having access to insurance.
From The Article…”Could the healthcare industry have increased its hiring due to the fact that people from the ages of 18-26 years old are still allowed to stay on their parents’ insurance?”
You can’t have it both ways though.
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Kathy
Oct. 11th, 2011 at 1:01 am
I agree with bottybrown…. the liberals have been tweeking the truth for so long…they wouldn’t know it if it slapped them in the face!
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Evan Stevens
Oct. 11th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Kathy and bottybrown, good denial skills, but where is your evidence? Health sector employment has increased. That’s the long and short of it.
Haven’t you heard the insurance industry’s many publicized assertions that health care costs were climbing due to the number, (market share), of young people who weren’t buying insurance?
With something over one million young voluntarily buying health insurance by continuing payments on existing, (rather than paying higher costs for no other reason than being forced into new plans because the industry said to), coverage, the industry is now forced to allow the savings it always said were there.
Deny it till the cows come home, but that in itself is saving you money if you have med bills, and until there is proof that the health care law has actually cost jobs, your denials are as worthless as a fart in a whirlwind.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Oct. 11th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
Healthcare corps are making out like screaming bandits in profits. But that doesnt matter to people who just mouth what others say like the two you mention
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Johnee
Oct. 11th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Sure Shiva, but you really have to understand just HOW tight the grip these GOP/dominionist a**holes have on these folks. I live in Austin Texas ( the most progressive part of Texas, but it’s still Texas! )and I know people that have signed on to the silliest argument against ANY kind of health care reform.
Here’s how the argument goes: ‘We the GOP are helping the American people by staying out of your Health Care. We will not propose any plans ourselves, we will not make any changes, laws or regulations to the current health care system. It doesn’t matter that tens of millions of Americans are without healthcare and many are condemned to a slow painful death, because they are diagnosed with a deadly disease and cannot get the treatment they need. Nope, we care about you too much to interfere.’
To sum it up, I asked my neighbor, who is an ultra christian/social conservative, “So Shane, your telling me the GOP is helping the American people by doing ABSOLUTELY nothing when it comes to health care.” He said yes!!!
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Shiva (Moderator)
Oct. 12th, 2011 at 12:34 am
I feel ya. I live in Knoxville and the southern baptists here are insane. Also, on this site we have had a good supply of Dominionist articles written by people that have left the cults. We have a decent idea of whats going on and I can tell you I am afraid of them.
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Cleo17
Oct. 10th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
and thats why the right wing machine the gop the tpartiers palin limbaugh beck hannity cantor mcconnel and all the lying sack of dung on the right have fought tooth and nail, blood sweat and tears to kill this health care bill!!! and stupid people follow believe them. and you people out there who help them will be very very sorry if they win..because even you won’t have coverage you morons helping the gop. this is what they want for you: to pay the insurance companies whatever they ask…and let you die when you won’t cough it up. the death panels always belonged to the gop….while obama tried to help us all you would rather go to the gop and they let deny you health insurance???? wtf?
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Dean Colwes
Oct. 11th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
The only way health care costs will go down is if there is a single payer system to control what is charged for services, equipment and drugs. It will come, I assure you it will.
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