As of this morning, there are at least 2,500 people thankful for Health Care Reform…well, technically they are since the government health care services don’t start for them for a couple of years. Somewhere in the middle of calculating the growing number of uninsured in America, the Obama administration forgot to couple it with another rising statistic, job loss. Now, thankfully that we have passed the bill, we finally get to know what’s in it. I hope you are as excited as I am!
Thanks to the reorganization of student loans, Sallie Mae will have to lay off 2,500 of its employees. This set of layoffs doesn’t even begin to touch what could be thousands more due to the rising costs for businesses to maintain the current health care plans for their employees. Don’t get me wrong; while I am currently self-employed, I appreciate free health care. It will save me roughly $160 a month, calculating my age when the bill takes effect and that I won’t develop cancer from all the chemical laden Happy Meals I ate as a child or succumb to the obvious cool look that smoking would give me.
Were layoffs what we expected from Health Care Reform? Or did someone say a couple of thousand times in debate that the bill was rushed so much that the nation didn’t have time to really inspect or predict what would happen after its passage? Before you answer that, did anyone get to hear the reports of an increased level of patients arriving at hospitals to receive their free health care on March 22? That’s right, there was a significant influx of regular people who went to hospitals the day after health care passed to see what they could get for free…it was to the point that at least in the Baltimore Metro region, the local radio stations were asked to mention that free health care didn’t start for a couple of years.
Ignoring the ignorance, we are still left with 2,500 people who are going to be without jobs. How will this be corrected for? Oh that’s right, the stimulus package a.k.a. “Jobs Bill.” Never fear displaced Sallie Mae workers, the Jobs Bill will save you! So far this re-titled stimulus package has created jobs at (This is where you, the reader fill in where jobs created from the stimulus package that don’t involve making propaganda about it. I can’t personally think of any and randomly created White House Czar positions don’t count), so I am sure that you will be employed soon enough. According to the administration, healthcare reform will create at least 16,000 new jobs at the IRS created to hunt down people who aren’t paying the proper taxes on health care, so maybe the Sallie Mae employees can go to work there.
The 2,500 layoffs that are predicted and have been since the early first readings of health care are just one of the many “surprises” to come with the implementation of this bill. I, as well as the majority of the public haven’t personally read the bill, but I have been informed that other surprises may or may not include: even more layoffs caused by new economic restrictions and reorganizations, a 3 page fold out of the President’s March Madness Bracket followed by your own “fill-in-the-blanks” bracket, two “moderate level” Sudoku puzzles, and if you apply lemon juice to the back of page 738 and put it under a black light, you will receive the first clue to finding the national treasure.
Tim Young
Tim Young was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He
has served his time in government working for multiple Senators on the
Hill as well as former Governor Ehrlich of MD., the Social Security
Administration, and NIH. A spokesperson, manager and strategist for
multiple campaigns, Young has amassed quite a resume of political
experience, ranging from national to grass roots. He holds a law
degree from the University of Baltimore and has completed the
coursework needed for his doctorate in Public Policy. An award
winning stand-up comic, Young leads the creative teams for multiple
non-partisan lobbying efforts as well as nationwide PSA's. 
Unfortunately, this is the start. I fully expect see thousands of layoffs over the next 4 years – people who will be forced into entitlement programs through sheer survival, plus an increased level of frustration from the current’entitlement class’ as they wait for their free lunch to be served to them.
We have failed to remind people that they are a free people, responsible for their own destiny. Instead of trying to dig their own way out of the pit, they will once again go to the hand that feeds them, begging for crumbs from the master’s table…and trade their loyalty at the ballot box in exchange for the stability of mediocrity.
I fail to see the correlation between 2,500 Sallie Mae jobs and the Health Care Bill and how they are related. In fact, as I’m sure Sallie Mae is similar to the rest of the GSO’s Freddie and Fannie, a decent majority of those people probably should be laid off just to cut the fat. Even though the lay-offs have nothing to do with the bill, if we are making a discourse about the health-care bill being a hand-out to the un-deserved, then why complain about un-employment and lay-offs? By the same logic, if you are one of the ones that are laid off, then its your fault for losing your job and why should the government do anything to help you?