Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2004
New Study Finds Prop 72 Would Destroy 150,000 Jobs in California
Most of Current Uninsured Will Remain Without Healthcare
(SACRAMENTO) -- A new study released today by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) says that Proposition 72 on the November ballot could result in as many as 150,000 lost jobs -- primarily affecting the state's least-skilled employees.
"We all want to make health care more affordable so more employees can provide health insurance to workers. However, if Proposition 72 passes, California will lose jobs and as many as 150,000 workers could end up both unemployed and uninsured," said Jot Condie, President and CEO of the California Restaurant Association and co-chair of CAGRH. "To cope with the massive costs of Proposition 72, employers will have to consider a number of hard options -- including cutting other employee benefits, laying off workers, moving out of state or simply closing their doors."
The EPI study found that Prop 72's costs and risks far exceed its potential benefits because:
- California could lose up to 150,000 jobs. The displaced employees tend to be younger, poorer, less educated, and disproportionately minorities. For example, the study found that while Hispanics make up only 30 percent of the workforce, they will bear 53 percent of the job losses;
- Prop 72 will cost businesses up to $12.9 billion a year;
- Only 31 percent of uninsured Californians would receive new coverage because of Prop 72's high costs. Of every dollar, only 30 to 35 cents spent under the initiative goes toward covering the uninsured.
According to the study, the costs of Prop 72 continue to climb -- as much as seven to 12 times more than the figures sited by supporters of this costly measure. However the real losers are workers, as they will be forced to buy into the government-run system whether they want, need or can afford the coverage.
"Just as California's economy begins to rebound, we cannot afford this multi-billion dollar tax on employers and workers," said Allan Zaremberg, President and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of Californians Against Government Run Healthcare (CAGRH), the broad and diverse coalition working to defeat Prop 72 on the November 2nd ballot. "Prop 72 does absolutely nothing to solve the real problem with health care, which are skyrocketing healthcare costs. In fact, Prop 72 will only make the problem worse."
The study was conducted by Dr. Aaron Yelowitz, a nationally respected labor and health economist at the University of Kentucky and a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Yelowitz, who spent seven years as an economist at UCLA, utilized data sets from the Current Population Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, County Business Patterns, and premium and cost-sharing information from the Kaiser Family Foundation California Employer Health Benefits Survey.
For more information, please visit the coalition's web site at www.noprop72.org. To obtain a copy of the EPI study, please visit www.epionline.org/study_detail.cfm?sid=77
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Proposition 72 is opposed by hundreds of California employers, local governments, non-profits, community/civic groups, law enforcement, education leaders, medical groups and
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
CONTACT:
Jessica Spitz, Porter Novelli
916.443.3354
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