Another health care headline double-take: “Four States that Snubbed Health Care Law Gaining Jobs From It”, as reported by Kaiser Health News, describing how the federal government will be creating jobs in Florida and three other states all of whom rejected health care expansion under federal reforms.
In states that chose not to develop health care exchanges as described by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, uninsured residents will be directed to federally-run marketplaces.ย Up to 9,000 jobs are anticipated to be created at call centers to support the federal exchange and help people shop for coverage.
Of the five states getting call centers, only one has agreed to expand Medicaid in 2014, while Florida is among the four that “snubbed” the federal law.
The jobs will be run through Vangent, a company that was awarded a $530 million contract to administer federal exchange call centers seven days of the week, 24 hours a day.ย These centers are expected to handle over 6 million phone calls and thousands of emails.ย According to Kaiser, if the contract is renewed for up to nine more years it would be worth greater than $5 billion.
Florida’s Tampa-based call center jobs will be added to an existing Medicare call center.
Although I am sure that both proponents and opponents of state health exchanges will take this dubious headline as a win — proponents, to suggest that the implementation of exchanges creates jobs to support their operation, and opponents, to suggest that by rejecting reform we improve our economy — I’d be careful to assume either as true.ย ย
Nearly every state has conducted economic analyses on the impact of federal reforms (Medicaid expansion and state-based health care exchanges) with findings that span a dramatic range — all of which talk about jobs in the tens of thousands and economic impacts in the millions or more. Hospitals groups and other advocates promise major booms in employment through the measures, while conservative think tanks predict a drop in jobs up to 800,000 through the law’s implementation. ย
In other words: The ‘creation’ of a few thousand call center jobs is a slice of pepperoni on a moon-sized, ten-topping pizza.
Via Karen Cyphers, PhD, is a public policy consultant, researcher, and mother to three daughters.
