Please see below for a fact check on comments made on the Senate floor just now by Senator Jon Kyl, falsely claiming that the Senate health bill prohibits job creation:
RHETORIC: Kyl Said The Senate Health Care Bill “Kills Jobs, It Kills Job Creation.” Sen. Jon Kyl: “The President’s talking about creating more jobs. Everyone in America is focused on putting people back to work, ending this recession and bringing unemployment down so that we can get jobs and go back to work. One of the problems with this bill is that it kills jobs, it kills job creation.” [Senate Floor, 12/9/09]

REALITY: JOB CREATION WILL SUFFER WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

Chamber Of Commerce: “The Reality With The Business Community Is That We Want Reform, While Some Republicans Want To Stop This Train And Start Over.” The Wall Street Journal reported on the Chamber Of Commerce’s relatively positive reaction to Chairman Baucus’ health reform proposal: “‘The reality with the business community is that we want reform, while some Republicans want to stop this train and start over,’ said Bruce Josten, the chamber’s chief lobbyist. ‘That is just not going to happen.’” [Wall Street Journal, 9/25/09]

WSJ: More Than Three Times As Many Small Businesses Are Considering Eliminating Health Insurance Coverage This Year, Compared To 2005. “Health-insurance premiums for single workers rose 74% for small businesses from 2001 to 2008, the latest year data are available, according to nonprofit research group Kaiser Family Foundation. About 10% of small businesses are considering eliminating coverage over the next year, up from 3% in 2005, according to a recent survey by National Small Business Association. That follows earlier declines in coverage, with just 38% of small businesses providing health insurance last year compared to 61% in 1993, according to the trade group. In 2007, 41% offered coverage. A Hewitt Associates survey found that 19% of all companies plan to stop providing health-care benefits in the next three to five years.” [Wall Street Journal, 5/26/09]

National Small Business Association: “Health-Care Reform Can Not Wait Yet Another Year.” “Health-care reform topped the list of small-business priorities when members of the National Small Business Association voted recently on issues they want Congress and President Barack Obama to address. The group said it supports ‘broad health-care reform’ that will reduce costs, improve quality, create a fair sharing of health-care costs, and focus on individuals’ responsibilities as health-care consumers. ‘Given the current state of the U.S. economy, the fact that our members voted health-care reform their number one priority ought to send a strong message to Congress,’ NSBA President Todd McCracken said in a written statement. ‘Health-care reform can not wait yet another year.’” [Orlando Sentinel, 3/9/09]

RAND: “First-Of-Its-Kind” Study Finds Solid Evidence That Health Care Costs Cause Unemployment – 10% Increase In Cost Growth Results In 120,800 Fewer Jobs And $28 Billion In Lost Revenues. Business Week wrote about a RAND Corp. study, “a first-of-its-kind,” that “linked the rapid growth in the U.S. health care costs to job losses and lower output. The study…gives weight to President Obama’s dire warnings about the impact of rising costs if Congress does not enact health care reform…After adjusting for other factors, industries that provide insurance had significantly less employment growth than industries where health benefits were not common…Economy-wide, a 10% increase in excess health care costs growth would result in about 120,800 fewer jobs, $28 billion in lost revenues, and $14 billion in lost GDP… ‘This study provides some of the first evidence that the rapid rise in health care costs has negative consequences for several U.S. industries,’ said Neeraj Sood, the study’s lead author and a senior economist at RAND.” [Business Week, 7/23/09]

Study: No Health Insurance Reform Means Small Businesses Will Pay Nearly $2.4 Trillion In Healthcare Costs, Cost 178,000 Jobs. The Small Business Majority study commissioned a study from noted economist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jonathan Gruber. The study found that, “without reform, small businesses will pay nearly $2.4 trillion dollars over the next ten years in healthcare costs for their workers. With reform, the study shows that small businesses can save as much as $855 billion, a reduction of 36 percent, money that can be reinvested to grow the economy.” The study also found that without reform, 178,000 small business jobs will be lost in 2018 as a result of healthcare costs, and with reform, up to 128,000 of those jobs could be saved. [The Economic Impact of Healthcare Reform on Small Business, 6/11/09]

CEA Report: Slowing Health Care Cost Growth Would Add 500,000 Jobs Each Year. In a report on the economic impact of health care reform, the President’s Council of Economic Advisors wrote that, “[s]lowing cost growth would lower the unemployment rate…the beneficial impact on employment in the short and medium run (relative to the no-reform baseline) is estimated to be approximately 500,000 each year that the effect is felt.” [CEA Health Care Report, 6/2/09]

REALITY: SMALL BUSINESS WINS UNDER REFORM

Business Roundtable: Without Reform, Health Care Costs Rise To $28,530 Per Employee, 166% Higher; With Reform, Businesses Could Save $3,000 Per Employeee. A report from the Business Roundtable concluded that: “If the cost trends of the past 10 years repeat, by 2019, employment-based spending on health care at large employers will be 166% higher than today on a per-employee basis. This equates to an average of $28,530 per employee when employer subsidies, employee contributions, and employee out-of-pocket costs are combined. We estimate that if enacted properly, the right legislative reforms could potentially reduce that trend line by more than $3,000 per employee, to $25,435.” [Business Roundtable – Health Care Reform, 11/12/09]

Small Business Majority Study: With Reform, Small Business Will Save As Much As $855 Billion Over The Next 10 Years. Small Business Majority Study: “Without reform, small businesses will pay nearly $2.4 trillion dollars over the next ten years in healthcare costs for their workers. With reform, the study shows that small businesses can save as much as $855 billion, a reduction of 36 percent, money that can be reinvested to grow the economy.” [The Economic Impact of Healthcare Reform on Small Business, 6/11/09]

Small Business Majority Study: Reform Will Reduce The Cost To Small Businesses Of Providing Health Care. “Comprehensive healthcare reform… will reduce the cost to small businesses of providing health insurance to their employees.” [The Economic Impact of Healthcare Reform on Small Business, 6/11/09]

Small Business Majority Study: Small Businesses Will “Likely Fare Better” Under The Reforms Being Debated In Washington. “Small businesses in the United States are suffering great harm under our current healthcare system will likely fare far better under a substantially reformed system along the lines of what is currently being debated in Washington.” [The Economic Impact of Healthcare Reform on Small Business, 6/11/09]