Free Enterprise and Health Care Jobs

A program whose basic thesis is not that the system of free enterprise has failed, but that it has not yet been tried.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)

May 22, 2012-  In 1938 at the depths of the Great Depression,  President Franklin Roosevelt asserted that free enterprise had not really been tried.   The same might be said of President Barack Obama in the depths of the current Great Recession, especially in health care.

Instead of pushing  for greater free enteprise in health care,  President Obama’s health law aims for greater government control in form of higher taxes, more regulations, and lower reimbursements for physicians.   This is in face of the reality that health care is the most robust job creator among the economic sectors.  This is especially true in the ambulatory and outpatient fields, directed  by physicians.

In 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,  health care accounted for 16,488 million, 11.5% of America’s 143,068 million jobs,  a 2.6% annual growth since 2000 compared to a negative  0.2% loss for the economy as a whole over that same period.  By 2020, the Labor Bureau projects health care will account for 13.6% of 163,531 million jobs.

Given this relentless growth in job creation,  why is the Obama administration seeking to suppress the health care sector?  Why does it look upon health care as an economic liability rather than an economic asset?    No doubt partly because health care costs are now approaching 20% of GDP.  No doubt partly because of its ideological leaning to the left.

According to Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,  we should be celebrating free enterprise,  in the health sector and elsewhere rather than trying to contain it.     

Among other things,

·       “Let’s turn off the regulatory firehouse that hasd drowned businesses large and small in an ocean of new, complex, and burdensome regulations.”   And let us not forget,  medical practices are essentially small business, and American hospitals,  which average 100 beds, are medium sized businesses.

·       Let’s put our fiscal house in order,  by not burdening the U.S. economy with $2 trillion to $2.5 trillion in more health care debt pilled on the existing $5 trillion of national debt.

·       Let’s not forget that what makes America great a well-educated work force,  an exemplary health system, a free enterprise infrastructure fueled by innovation,  and an affordable and abundant supply of enerby.

·       And let us remember that American enterprise works best when people  are allowed to take risks, dream big, fail, and try again and when government and business work as partners.   Only then will we have the sustained economic growth and produce the millions of jobs and opportunities of this and future generations.

Tweet:   Health care accounted for 11.5%, 16,688 of 143,068 million jobs in 2010, and it will produce 13.6% of jobs by 2020, thanks to free enterprise.