The Graham-Cassidy Proposal Would Eliminate 345,000 Jobs
<p>The Senate leadership hopes to pass its latest Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal-and-replace bill, known as Graham-Cassidy, by the end of this week. For a new post on <em>To the Point, </em>Leighton Ku and colleagues at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health analyzed potential effects of the most recent version of the bill on employment and state economies from 2018 to 2026.</p><p>The researchers found that total national employment would rise by 225,000 in 2018 but then fall, with 345,000 jobs lost by 2026. Job losses could be far deeper in 2027 if the short-term block grant is not extended or is scaled back. Health care employment would drop immediately. And states’ overall economies, as measured by gross state products, would erode by $39 billion (in current dollars) in 2026.</p>
<p>Collectively, the 32 states that expanded Medicaid would lose jobs, while the 19 nonexpansion states stand to gain employment. Ku and colleagues found that New York and California would suffer especially large losses —101,000 and 87,000 jobs by 2026, respectively — while Texas would gain 81,000 jobs.</p>