Deirdre Cummings
Legislative Director, MASSPIRG
617-747-4319
[email protected]
Health Reform Could Mean Jobs, Economic Growth in Massachusetts
Media Contacts
MASSPIRG
Health care reform means more than health care – it could mean more jobs and stronger economic growth here in Massachusetts.
As the health reform debate heats up in Washington, new research suggests that health reform could have real impact closer to home. A MASSPIRG Brief, entitled Putting America Back to Work, finds that proposals to tame health care costs could allow the creation of 68,000 jobs in Massachusetts over a five year period without inflationary effects, and yield stronger economic growth over the long term.
According to Deirdre Cummings, MASSPIRG’s legislative director, “This research sends a simple message to those in Washington who are more concerned about partisan politics than getting things done: Stop playing politics with health reform.”
These findings come as Capitol Hill awaits the introduction of Senator Ted Kennedy’s (D-Massachusetts) landmark health reform bill. The research estimates state-level impact of health reform on jobs and the economy for each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including:
• The number of jobs over the next five years that could be generated, with no inflationary effect
• The additional economic activity that could be generated.
The estimates are derived from the recent national report, The Economic Case for Health Reform, prepared by the White House Council of Economic Advisors.
“The Kennedy bill is a serious effort to check the private insurance industry and rein in the explosive growth of American’s health premiums,” said Larry McNeely, MASSPIRG’s Federal Health Care Advocate. “In the current economy, it couldn’t come a moment too soon.”
