Marc Stier at Large

Health Care Reform and Job Creation in Pennsylvania, 2010-2019  Marc Stier, Ph.D.[1] President Barack Obama has said that “health care reform is our jobs program.”[2]  But while economists largely agree with the President that health care reform will, in a number of different ways, lead to job growth, there have been only a few attempts to quantify the job creating benefits of health care reform. This paper draws on that research to quantify the number of jobs likely to be created in Pennsylvania in the ten years between 2010 and 2019. Our conclusion is that over this period, between 150,000 and 225,000 new jobs will be added to the Pennsylvania economy as a result of health care reform. Health care accounts for one-seventh of the national economy and health care reform will make dramatic changes in our health care system. It would be incredible if these changes did not have… Continue reading

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is now law but the Republicans in Washington and the states are not ready to accept it. In Pennsylvania, Republican Attorney General and Gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett has joined his colleagues from other states in filing a suit to have the whole law overturned by the courts. And he’s done so, in part, on the grounds that the the ACA will kill jobs in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The Republican Party has fought every effort by President Obama and Governor Rendell to create jobs. So it’s ironic to see them attacking the ACA on these grounds. And more importantly, their argument is totally backwards. For two reasons, the ACA will create jobs all over the country and especially in Pennsylvania. First, health care reform will slow the growth in health care costs and that will lead to new jobs. Employer-paid health insurance premiums are, like wages… Continue reading

Company Makes Admission in Response to Activists at Shareholder Meeting Philadelphia – Representatives of Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the 1,000-member coalition that led the successful fight for health reform, confronted CIGNA Corp.'s CEO and board members at the company's annual shareholder meeting today, and company officials admitted for the first time that they secretly contributed funding for duplicitous anti-reform TV ads. The company made the comments in response to questions from HCAN members who attended the event while activists outside rallied around a golden parachute symbolizing former CIGNA CEO Ed Hanway's recently disclosed $111-million retirement package. Continue reading

On Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 150 people rallied at 12:00 Noon to tell Tom Corbett to drop his lawsuit against health care reform. We were joined by Congressmen Chaka Fattah and Bob Brady, Mayor Michael Nutter, and State Representative Dwight Evans. Why were we rallying again for health care reform so soon after the legislation passed. It used to be that when the US Congress passed legislation, we went on to other matters while waiting to see how it was implemented. Then, after we had some idea how the new programs worked, political leaders and activists would start devote energy to improving, changing or repealing it. The opposition to health care reform, however, is not waiting. They are determined to stand against the idea that health care is now a right not a privilege in America. They will not accept a democratically elected government taking action to address the health… Continue reading

Please join us for a rally in support of health care reform and in opposition to Attorney General Tom Corbett’s lawsuit against the legislation that recently passed the US Congress. Tuesday, April 6, 2010 12:00 Noon Thomas Paine Plaza (in front of the Municipal Services Building) Arch Street between Broad and 15th Street We will be joined, among others, by Congressmen Chaka Fattah and Bob Brady, Mayor Michael Nutter, and State Representative Dwight Evans. You might wonder why we are rallying again for health care reform so soon after the legislation passed. It used to be that when the US Congress passed legislation, we went on to other matters while waiting to see how it was implemented. Then, after we had some idea how the new programs worked, political leaders and activists would start devote energy to improving, changing or repealing it. The opposition to health care reform, however, is… Continue reading