Reality Bites: Massachusetts Economy Proves Health Care Reform Didn’t Destroy Businesses

Kelly Bovio at the Huffington Post:

Since implementation of the MA health care reform law, signed by then-Governor Mitt Romney, Wolf testified that Cape Air has “added a solid 15 percent more MA-based jobs, with our total revenue growing far faster.” While his business saw a 5 percent increase in health insurance premiums this year, Wolf stated that the cost was, “too much, but far from the 15 to 20 percent increases we saw year after year before reform took effect.”

Not only has health care reform been good for Cape Air, but Wolf argued the law has neither soured the business climate in Massachusetts nor ruined state's economy. “Unemployment in Massachusetts has dropped from 8 percent in 2009 to 5.8 percent in May of this year. This is 2.4 percent below the national average. Massachusetts ranks eighth in the nation in job creation this year, adding 37,800 new jobs through May. And, since January 2007, Massachusetts has ranked third in the nation in economic performance, as defined by gross state product.”

More here.