Heidi Alexander: “last month marked the 1-year anniversary of President Obama signing the health care bill into law. I believe it was an…”

“last month marked the 1-year anniversary of President Obama signing the health care bill into law. I believe it was an historic mistake. We have talked about the health care law in a variety of ways. One thing we have said is that at a time when our country needs to make it easier and cheaper to create private sector jobs, the health care law makes it harder and more expensive to do so. Someone might ask: How could that happen? This morning I wish to mention a few examples of how it actually is happening, how the health care law actually is making it harder and more expensive to create private sector jobs. Last September I met with about 35 chief executive officers of chain restaurant companies. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the retail and hospitality industries are the largest employers in the United States, second only to the U.S. Government. Food services and drinking places provide roughly 10 million jobs. Most of these are first-time job seekers and low-income employees--the young and the poor companies that provide a huge number of jobs to low-income Americans. One of the chief executive officers I met with said his company had been operating with 90 employees on the average, and as a result of the health care law, their goal was to operate with 70 employees. That is fewer jobs. There were many other examples of that around the room. Many of the attendees are on the National Council of Chain Restaurants.…”