The public health care option has been portrayed by both Democrats and Republicans in Capitol Hill as directly tied to the economy. Liberals argue that the presence of a public option would be beneficial to the economy since it would give employers more incentives to hire and the public could pay less for their own health plans/ would have access to an affordable health plan. On the contrary, conservatives argue that a public health option would drive private options out of business and would run up an unprecedented deficit that would increase inflation and cripple the economy in the long run. We believe that a public option is integral to the long term progress of America’s economic competitiveness but there must be a way to pay for the plan. Let’s take a look at each of the sides’ talking points.
The first claim liberals make in tying the health care fight to the economy is that it will lead to more job creation. I dont entirely buy this concept since job creation will take a while either way. Nonetheless, there is some truth in the idea that since employers would pay less to cover their employees (due to the idea that a public plan would compete with private plans and drive down costs) and would therefore be more prone to hiring. The point that the liberals make that I strongly agree with is that a public option would drive down prices for the average American. This would leave more money in peoples’ pockets and stimulate economic growth.

The only conservative argument I buy is that in it’s current form, the House bill would run up the deficit and perpetrate high levels of stagflation. However, once details are provided in finalized versions of the bill, it is likely that democrats will be forced to provide details about how they will pay for the public option. Once such details are laid out in stone a public option will improve our economic situation in almost all ways. Ideally this is how things will proceed but for the moment we can only wait for more details.