I've heard lots of chatter from concern trolls in the punditocracy and blogospheria about how Obama's been so single-mindedly focused on HCR that he's ignored the economy (stupid) and jobs in particular.
I'll skip cataloging the many achievements of the Obama administration to date, which are nevertheless an amazing set of accomplishments, ranging from Preventing the Great Depression to winning two wars (well, one and a half thus far).
The current "Jobs" bill has its points, but there's a limit to what any administration can do to directly affect the economy outside of two or three critical areas. However, one of the most important ones for putting more people to work, and for positively changing the environment for small business and entrepreneurship, is exactly what Obama has been focusing on: and that is Health Care Reform.
How is Health Care Reform a jobs bill?
- HCR provides relief to employers.
Employers who can have some idea how health care costs are going to be controlled, and who will have increased options for their employees at lower costs, are employers who can hire more people. Who have some idea of their costs in an important area of human resources budgeting, and thus can provide better forecasting for their own internal plans. And who can, yes, hire more people.
- HCR provides job mobility for workers, and thus increases productivity.
We all know this story: I'd get out of my dead-end job which is unsatisfying and has all these problems, but I can't afford to lose my health insurance because of (insert reason here: my pre-existing condition, my child's pre-existing condition, general difficulty in getting new insurance, etc.) Being trapped by your health coverage into a job eliminates job mobility for workers in all areas of the economy. It particularly hurts productive and creative people who typically have more job mobility, but it also hurts hourly workers in particular who cannot vote with their feet to move up into a perhaps riskier, but ultimately more productive, type of job if there's risk with no health insurance. Job mobility means ultimately more productivity - if nothing else, it assures worker happiness - and more productivity always leads to an expanded economy and more jobs.
- HCR eliminates inefficient monopolies and thereby frees up capital for expansion.
If you believe in capitalism, you should know that monopolies are bad for it. They stifle competition, raise entry barriers to an industry, and they sit on working capital. They're by definition inefficient with respect to market forces, and that also by definition inhibits productive employment. Anything that can be done to lessen the stranglehold the health insurers have on their "product" (which, whatever it is, is not really health care) will have a positive economic effect. Yes, a public option would help more, but this bill still goes a long way to shaking up a stagnant sector that consumes and sits on capital.
- HCR allows small businesses to attract employees, and thus allows for small business creation and expansion.
This is also a familiar saw: the bulk of this economy, particularly new employment, is in small businesses and small business startups. This is axiomatic: businesses can't function without their people, people can't work without their health, every small business that operates with health insurance under the present system has a huge cost burden, every one that operates without is facing an incredible risk that their people will all of a sudden be unable to work over something simple that's become worse. Sick people can't work. Well ones can.
- HCR will make sick people better, and put more money into the "real" economy instead of into the illness industry.
See above: sick people can't come up with the newest idea, much less be productive. Happy well people who are not worried about their kids getting medical care can concentrate on their work.
Of course, there should be some offset in the bloated bureaucracies of Health Insurance companies, who may no longer be able to afford executive perqs and such huge bonuses. For the makers of luxury yachts and fine caviar, maybe this won't be a big jobs creation bill. So sorry about that.