Obama Links Job Growth to Health Care Plan

(AP)  As the unemployment rate climbs, President Barack Obama is trying to make the case that his health care overhaul would create jobs by making small business startups more affordable.

Dismissive Republicans blamed the continuing job losses on Democratic policies and said the president's health proposals won't help.

In his weekly radio and Internet video address Saturday, Mr. Obama linked one of his biggest challenges - joblessness - with passage of far-reaching changes to the nation's health care system.

If aspiring entrepreneurs believe they can stay insured while switching jobs, President Obama said, they will start new businesses and hire workers.

The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, the highest since June 1983, as employers cut far more jobs than expected. The government reported Friday that the economy lost a net total of 263,000 jobs last month, from a downwardly revised 201,000 in August. All told, 15.1 million people are now out of work, the Labor Department said, and 7.2 million jobs have been eliminated since the recession began in December 2007.

President Obama said he has met people "who've got a good idea and the expertise and determination to build it into a thriving business. But many can't take that leap because they can't afford to lose the health insurance they have at their current job."

Small businesses create many of the nation's jobs, Mr. Obama said, and some have the potential to become big companies.

President Obama praised the Senate Finance Committee for crafting a health care bill that includes many of his priorities. Small businesses could buy health insurance through an exchange, he said, "where they can compare the price, quality and services of a wide variety of plans."

The government would subsidize health insurance for many businesses and individuals, the president said.

President Obama acknowledged that a health care bill is far from final passage in the Democratic-controlled Congress.

The bill will be merged with another version and sent to the full Senate, where scores of amendments might be offered and Republicans could mount a filibuster. The House is advancing a more liberal bill that includes a public option to compete with private health insurers. The Senate Finance Committee rejected that idea.

President Obama said "reforming our health insurance system will be a critical step in rebuilding our economy so that our entrepreneurs can pursue the American dream again and our small businesses can grow and expand and create new jobs again."

In the weekly Republican address, Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan said the Obama-backed $787 billion economic stimulus package fell far short of its goals. She criticized a House-passed energy bill that would set limits and costs on greenhouse gas emissions. The plan, which the Senate has not taken up, "would increase electricity bills, raise gasoline prices and ship more American jobs overseas," Miller said.

She called for deeper tax cuts for small businesses so the economy can get back on track.

"Washington Democrats' job-killing agenda makes me think they're living on a different planet from the families living in America's suffering heartland," Miller said.

As for health care, Miller said, "Washington Democrats intend to fund their government-run health care plan with cuts to Medicare benefits" and with new taxes on businesses.
By Associated Press Writer Charles Babington

[hungry1968-16]

by guyfrompa2009 October 5, 2009 7:27 AM EDT
Is he kidding.. He has no idea what he's doing.







Why do you think so many companies are "offshoring"?

One of the major reasons, is that they don't have to pay outrageously high "medical insurance premiums" for their employees, like they do in America.

There's a reason that MOST of Ford and GM's production and manufacturing employees are in Canada and Mexico, and it's not for the weather or the clean water!!

Talk about clueless!!

[Kyle197]

I don't think President Obama believes his own lies - he just thinks the public is that stupid. Health care reform will not increase the deficit, not raise your taxes, not increase your healthcare costs, and not cause you to get dumped onto a public plan, and will create jobs. If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you.

[6591Hou]

An unresolved side-topic that I continue to see go un-addressed, at least I haven't see it addressed, is the bottom line cost to the family or indivisual per plan.

I'd like to see the projected monthly rates, per each proposal, on a table (just like the tax rates) so that it can be graphically seen and discussed.

Figures like '16%' are all well and good, but most people are visual. Put out a table that shows you if you make $XXX you pay $XXX, and then debate the machanics but people would be able to see what the plan would take out of their pocket. People want to know if it will cost them more thn what they're currently paying out.

[White_Duck]

Go ahead, Bozo! Hang out another false hope lie! Another step down the road to Socialism you embrace. Another job owned by the Gov't, cared for by the Gov't and bankrolled by the wages earned from the Gov't. Soon, people will wake up to all your lies.

[woltommel]

I get it now, gulp, gulp, gulp,,,,,,,,It will be cheaper health care if we hire more people, gulp.>uaghh

[johnwayne932]

and coming; democrats wake up and smell the burning of taxpayer money

[gboyd41]

I would have loved to see Opra in Copenhagen.

[jschmidt27]

One of the versions of the bill forced people who didn'thave insurance to only sign up with the public option. So the private insurers would not get new people signing up. So no new business for private insurers. This even more so throughs the game to the public option. I don't know if this is the latest versions of the bill. Also will the public option be subject to state laws like private insurers? Would the public option be able to be sued like private insurers? Usually you can't sue the govt. Will the public option be able to compete across state lines unlike the private insurers can? Will tort reform be in the final bill? I doubt it. Will drug regulation be streamlined to make it easier to get drugs to market safely? THe game is being fixed for the public option.

[jschmidt27]

but single payer will be the end result. The Congress will make the pubic option so cheap that it will put private insurers under. That is what Frank, Obama, and Dashcle have said on video. and single payer will result in longer waits, less care available, underpaid doctors, hospitals in trouble and malpractice rates that will only go up. Public option is the start of a slippery slope to a single payer which is the Dems ultimate goal. Don;t believe me, believe Frank and Obama who are on tape saying it is the ultimate goal and read Daschle's book.

[reveal5]

Health insurance companies will need to hire perhaps 100,000 or more employees if reform passes. Tens of millions more Americans will acquire private health insurance if reform passes. The public health insurance option will cover about 3 to 5% of Americans, that's it. The public option will not threaten private insurance companies. Single payer has not been and is not part of healthcare reform...period. Reform means no dropping of coverage, no pre existing conditions, fair pricing, and an exchange which will show, in clear language, coverages and pricing over a number of private insurance companies, just like Congress people now enjoy. Exchanges will give small businesses and self employed the opportunity to become part of large groups of insured individuals. This will drive down cost. Reform means not going bankrupt for medical costs...not being charged exorbitant fees ....never being dropped from coverage...fair pricing...Reform means seniors will receive best treatment methods which produce better results, shorten recovery times, and save money for seniors and the American taxpayer, who highly subsidizes Medicare. Reform means lower costs over time. Reform means health insurance companies will not be able to double rates in the next ten years, as they have in the last ten years. Reform means that the 18% of gross national product which healthcare currently consumes will not double to 32% in the next ten years. Reform means keeping more of your own money in your own pockets and never having to go without medical care. Reform means the 10's of millions who currently are disallowed medical care and suffer and die daily in America will receive the medical care they need.