A report released by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Tuesday confirms what many economists and conservatives have been saying for the last four years: ObamaCare has, and will, cost Americans literally millions of jobs.
CBO estimates mark the number at nearly 2.3 million jobs. That’s around half the population of Alabama. And those jobs lost come in addition to the many full time employees who are having their hours cut by employers trying to deal with the skyrocketing costs brought on by the president’s healthcare law.
Yet somehow, the Obama Administration thinks this is all great news.
White House press secretary Jay Carney during his daily press briefing on Tuesday fired up the spin machine and, alongside Jason Furman, Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, said Americans will now be freed from “job lock” and thrust into a wonderful world where they can leave their job, but still have taxpayer subsidized health insurance.
This prompted Politico to publish an article with the headline, “The Party of Less Work.”
“The Democrats once styled themselves the party of workers,” Politico’s Rich Lowry wrote. “Now, they are the party of people who would have been workers, if it hadn’t been for ObamaCare.”
Prior to ObamaCare, it was simple and easy to purchase health insurance on the individual market. The options were often flexible and affordable, particularly in Alabama, where there were many plans available for around $100 a month. But as Yellowhammer has covered before, Alabamians by the thousands began receiving their ObamaCare letters in the second half of 2013, and saw their coverage either cancelled or the price go up substantially. My premiums doubled, and Blue Cross of Alabama was quick to inform me of the reason: ObamaCare.
In short, individual coverage was available and comparatively affordable outside of an employer prior to ObamaCare.
But now the Obama Administration is claiming Americans were “locked” into jobs, seemingly against their will, because if they left their job, they wouldn’t have health insurance. And ObamaCare is here to save the day, because thanks to government subsidized healthcare, why would you waste time on something so silly as a job?
Is this the new American Dream?
Maybe for some liberals, but for the millions of Americans who take immense pleasure in using our God-given talents to provide for our families, give to charity, and invest in our communities, we’d rather keep our jobs, thank-you-very-much. And we’d rather have control of our healthcare decisions, rather than placing our fate in the hands of the government bureaucracy, too.
CBO chief Douglas Elmendorf reiterated in a hearing before the House Budget committee on Wednesday that ObamaCare creates a distinct disincentive to work, and admitted that the resulting lower labor supply would be a detriment to economic growth. Committee chairman Paul Ryan pointed out that this means fewer producers, and fewer people entering the middle class.
If the Obama Administration is serious about helping people and growing the middle class, they’ll stop all of the policies that are making it more difficult to be a successful and independent citizen in the economy today. Americans want to succeed, Mr. President. Let them.
