Saying Something Over and Over Doesn’t Make It True

Congressional Republicans used yesterday’s testimony by CBO chief Douglas Elmendorf to dredge up one of their favorite myths about health reform: that it will kill 800,000 jobs.  Newsflash: that claim is still false.

CBO looked at the impact that the Affordable Care Act will have on jobs and found that health reform likely won’t raise most businesses’ health insurance premiums -- for most firms, in fact, premiums likely will fall.

What CBO did say is that some people who are now working primarily because they need their health insurance might retire early or work a bit less.  Health reform’s opponents took this finding and twisted it around to say that these people would lose their jobs.  That’s just not true.

More freedom and choices for American workers is a good thing.  Reform’s opponents should stop misleading the public on this important issue.