Confirmed: Obamacare Discourages Work
Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, October 23, 2010, 7:10 AM
CBO Director Doug Elmendorf told an audience on Friday that Obamacare will likely shrink the amount of labor used in the economy by as much as 651,000 jobs.
Investors.com reported:
Congressional Budget Office director Doug Elmendorf said Friday that ObamaCare includes work disincentives likely to shrink the amount of labor used in the economy.
In a speech on ObamaCare’s economic impact outside the health care sector, Elmendorf said that those effects will primarily be related to the labor market and “will probably be small.”
Factoring in additional demand for workers in health care and insurance, CBO estimates that “the legislation, on net, will reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent,” he said.
The reason: The expansion of Medicaid and new health insurance subsidies will reduce “the amount of labor that workers choose to supply.”
(For perspective, half a percent of current payrolls is 651,000 jobs, though the impact would show up in both fewer jobs and fewer hours worked.)
The conclusion isn’t a surprising one; any extra support from the government takes some pressure off of workers to provide for themselves. However, ObamaCare’s progressive subsidies, i.e. more generous for those who earn less, carry more of a disincentive than the flat, universal benefit favored by some Republicans.
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Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 91 Comments
squeaky commented:
while not true of everyone, i’ve seen people who refuse to work because they would either lose benefits or have then reduced. we used to chuckle that people watch too much tv and think
that everyone but them live the high life. much like the guy with no shoes complaining to the guy without feet.
Eric Lindholm commented:
The “effect will probably be small.” That’s a familiar theme with Obamacare, whether it’s the cost or the access to coverage. Unfortunately, the effect is usually large and in the wrong direction.
free` commented:
Don’t be surprized to see things like this creep out from the CBO. In the beginning of obamacare the CBO scored it as a terrible bill that would cost a fortune. Then for the first time in the history of the CBO, the POTUS brought the president of the CBO to the white house for a chat. After that meeting the CBO started scoring obamacare in a more favorable light. Didi you see anything about this in the media? Me either.
BarbaraS commented:
I read on one of the blogs that one company said it would be cheaper to pay $250,000 fine than provide their employeees with health insurance. Has anyone thought about who gets that $250,000? Maybe Obama is right when he says Obamacare will pay for itself. Of course, the 80% of citizens who up to now had health insurance are up the creek with no choice but to go single payer but the government is raking in the dough. Never let a liberal aka communist tell you he has the best interests of the public at heart.
averagemelon commented:
I don’t have health insurance and I don’t want it. I would rather GO TO JAIL than be forced to buy into this ponzi scheme. I WILL NOT OBEY.
Andreas K. commented:
Soon it will be like in Germany, where a Hartz IV (aka “unemployment money”) recepient gets more money than some working people.
felicity commented:
Okay. Who DIDN’T see this coming? I mean, other than liberals.
Chris Burns commented:
You people are all insane.
Your complaint is that the provision of basic human needs like health care will allow people the freedom to, say, take an extra month to find a new job, thus reducing the “amount of labor” in the economy. This is hardly something to complain about.
To frame it another way, you’re all saying that people should fear for theirs and their family’s health as a routine part of life, because this will motivate people to work about 0.5 % more.
Hey I got an idea, perhaps we can squeeze another 0.5% out of them (er, us) if we deny immunizations if parents can’t prove gainful employment. Better yet, kick their kids out of school. I mean, if they don’t deserve health care they can’t afford, why the hell should their kids get an education they can’t afford? They should have to pay for the oxygen they breathe!
Look, Ayn Rand hated Christ, and it’s not hard to see why. She was as anti-humanist as they come, let’s not follow in her sick footsteps.