Opinion: Repeal the 'Jobs Killer,' Start Over

(March 29) -- More than 130 economists recently signed a statement warning that a government takeover of health care would destroy American jobs. But Democrats didn't listen.

Instead they twisted every arm, struck every backroom deal and used every accounting gimmick imaginable to ram their bill through Congress. Disregarding the economists, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., promised it would create "400,000 jobs almost immediately." President Barack Obama said it would help build a "new foundation for our economy" and create "good, lasting jobs ..."

The reality is far different.

In Michigan, the Detroit News says small businesses are worried that the Democrats' new health care law "could burden them with thousands of dollars in extra costs and paperwork and prevent them from expanding their firms and hiring new workers." The owner of a pharmacy in Pennsylvania says the law "will burden him with crushing taxes."

In New York, a pizza parlor has put plans to expand and hire new workers on hold, worried that it will have to jack up the price of a slice on consumers. Restaurant owners in Texas are also worried that they will be "dramatically impacted," and small businesses in Illinois are holding off hiring new workers as well, unable to afford the additional costs imposed by Obamacare.

In my Ohio district, a steel manufacturer reported that its costs are going up roughly $31 million in the first quarter alone thanks to the new law. A manufacturer in Illinois faces compliance costs of more than $100 million, and a manufacturer of farm equipment in Iowa said its costs will skyrocket more than $150 million -- just this year.

In Massachusetts, a medical device manufacturer with 1,600 employees in the United States called the new law a "jobs killer." This company faces an enormous new tax burden and is weighing whether to pass along the costs to consumers, cut back on research and development, or move operations -- and jobs -- overseas.

Obamacare also means fewer doctors. A recent New England Journal of Medicine study found that nearly half of primary-care doctors would leave the medical profession if the Democrats imposed their government takeover. And again in Ohio, a physician-owned medical center says the bill actually forbids it from expanding and adding new operating rooms or procedure rooms.

So where are the new jobs Democrats promised? Maybe at the IRS, which will hire an army of 16,000 new agents to fan out and enforce the government takeover of health care that Americans didn't want and can't afford.

Speaker Pelosi also said, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." Well, Americans are finding out what's in it: fewer jobs, fewer doctors and more IRS agents. Does this sound like a law you can get behind?

We need to repeal Obamacare and start fresh with solutions that will lower premiums. Republicans have a bill -- posted online since November -- that would rein in junk lawsuits, let Americans shop for coverage across state lines without more federal bureaucracy and allow small businesses to band together to buy coverage the same way unions and big companies do.

We need to repeal Obamacare and replace it with solutions that address the health care issues Americans want addressed -- providing coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions, letting parents keep their children on their health plans through age 25 and other reforms -- without destroying jobs, raising taxes, cutting Medicare to create a new entitlement program or saddling our children and grandchildren with trillions in new debt.

We need to repeal this jobs-killing government takeover of health care and enact real reforms that will lower health care costs and help small businesses get back to creating jobs. Visit GOPCodeRed.com to help.

John Boehner, R-Ohio, is the House Republican leader.

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ANOTHER VIEW: We have added health care as a right, not a privilege. And when we did, we not only made history, we made progress for the American people, says Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.


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