There is a lot being debated these days about the types of, and the resultant cost of health care reform. President Obama has turned up the “heat” on Congress to come up with a program this summer. When we debate the type of health care programs that would reform and curtail the year-to-year increases that are putting immense economic pressures on individuals and businesses of all sizes, one needs to inject the effect on job creation.

We are not talking about job creation in the government or the private sector that would result from health care reform. We are talking about the number of jobs that are not becoming available because of the current state of our health care programs and policies.

Let’s take a  look at how this happens.

A person has a health insurance policy that includes their family. This person is gainfully employed and is beginning to think about retirement in the next couple of years. However, it will be five years before that person becomes 65 years old and can obtain Medicare health coverage. Either the person we’re talking about, or one of their family members have a pre-existing health condition. Upon retirement, this person may not be able to obtain a health care program because of the pre-existing condition. If this person can obtain a health care program, the cost may be double or triple what they are currently paying. So what does this person do?

They do not retire because they can’t get or afford health care. They stay working for five more years (until they qualify for Medicare) and there is no vacancy created in the job market due to a retiring employee. Multiply this by hundreds of thousands of individuals all over the country.  The facts are the facts: 8,000 people a day are turning 60 years old. How many lost jobs opportunities does that represent because of an ineffective health care policy?

It’s in all of our best interests to let our representatives in Congress know how we feel.