Republicans in Congress claim that health care reformwill kill hundreds of thousands of jobs. They even called their bill "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act." It turns out that the Republicans are misrepresenting an August 2010 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that estimated about 0.5 percent of workers could retire early, thanks to the reduced cost of their health care.
Think about that. Republicans,including Rep. Greg Walden,are claiming that health care reform will kill all these jobs because working people will have the opportunity to retire early. That is an amazing display ofchutzpah and trickery.
If hundreds of thousands of workers retire early with good health care, it will be a good thing. Itwill begood for them because they can stop working and enjoy more leisure with decent health care. Itwill begood for the economy because it will create millions of job openings that need to be filled. Itwill even begood for employers because, more often than not, starting pay for these jobs is going to be less than the top pay people get when they reach retirement age.
The reality is that Republicans want to kill a health care law that opensjobs for unemployed workersand gives older workers an opportunity to retire with dignity.
- Michael Funke, Bend
