Remember how I said that Republicans were coming back to Washington with nothing to offer on health care? Obama said as much today in his Ohio speech to labor:

We’ve never been this close. We’ve never had such broad agreement on what needs to be done. And because we’re so close to real reform, the special interests are doing what they always do — trying to scare the American people and preserve the status quo. But I’ve got a question for them: What’s your answer? What’s your solution? The truth is, they don’t have one. It’s do nothing. And we know what that future looks like. Insurance companies raking in the profits while discriminating against people because of pre-existing conditions and denying or dropping coverage when you get sick. It means you’re never negotiating about higher wages, because you’re spending all your time just protecting the benefits you already have. It means premiums continuing to skyrocket three times faster than your wages. More families pushed into bankruptcy. More businesses cutting more jobs. More Americans losing their health insurance — 14,000 every day. And it means more Americans dying every day just because they don’t have insurance.

From Bloomberg, here’s what Obama’s talking about:

Employers kept Americans’ working hours near a record low in August, signaling that economic growth is poised to reward companies with added profits while postponing any recovery in the job market. The average workweek held at 33.1 hours, six minutes from the 33 hours in June that was the lowest since records began in 1964, the Labor Department said yesterday. The report also showed that while payrolls fell by the least since August 2008, the unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high of 9.7 percent. (Emphasis mine)

From ABC:

Laid off eight months ago from her secretarial job at a health clinic, Mary Pat Didier, 60, is preparing her five grandchildren for the possibility she might have to move away from her home in Rockford, Ill., in hopes of finding employment. Didier has begun applying for jobs in Chicago and in Milwaukee. So far, no luck. Her unemployment benefits are set to expire in January, but she hopes to qualify for extended aid. She’s burned through her retirement savings. “There’s no place to go from here,” Didier said. “I’m too young for Medicare, but I ended up with no health (insurance). I get frustrated, but I can’t give up, so I try to not to dwell in it,” she adds. “I finally know what it’s like to live in the moment.” (Emphasis mine)

And while the jobs picture looks bleak, the Economic Policy Institute offers some sobering numbers on health care coverage:

• Drop in children covered through parents’ employers, 2000 to 2007: 3.4 million



• Share of people under 65, with incomes in the top 20%, covered by employers in 2007: 86.4%; Share with incomes in the bottom 20%, covered by employers: 21.9%



• Share of Hispanic workers who are uninsured: 39.8%



• Percentage of under-65 Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance in 2000: 68.3%; In 2007: 62.9%



• Average monthly cost of COBRA with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act subsidy: $370; Without American Recovery and Reinvestment Act subsidy: $1,057



• Rise in out-of-pocket spending for the 1% of adults with the greatest medical expenses, 2004-2007: 42%



• Increase in health care premiums since 1999: 119%



• Amount by which U.S. private health insurance administrative costs exceeded all Canadian national health spending in 2007: $25 billion**



• Share of total U.S. health care costs paid by private insurers in 2007: 35%



• Share of total health care costs paid by U.S. government in 2007: 46%

In other words, health care reform is the most important initiative Obama has going for American labor. This is more important than the EFCA or card-check. Unless reform can bring down health care costs, in a few years no one will be able to afford insurance, even if they have a job, because no company will be able to afford coverage. They will go broke trying.