Dem Health Bill “Would Reduce Employment” — But Isn’t Helping Sick Patients…

Before the House Budget Committee this morning, Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf elaborated on CBO’s earlier estimate in its August baseline last year that the health law will reduce the labor supply by about half a percent – or, in his estimation, a net reduction in employment of approximately 800,000 individuals.

In other health care news, the Administration released its updated estimates of high-risk pool enrollment today, and the results are not encouraging – only 12,000 people with pre-existing conditions have enrolled in this program, a far cry from the 375,000 predicted.

These twin headlines may cause some to ask two other pointed questions about the health care law:

• At a time of record budget deficits, did Congress really need to pass a law that will spend $2.6 trillion in its first ten years when fully implemented – so that 12,000 individuals with pre-existing conditions could obtain coverage?
• If the law will reduce employment – contrary to what its backers promised – and is only helping a small number of sick patients, why not repeal the legislation and replace it with provisions that won’t harm the economy in the ways Dr. Elmendorf has outlined?

• Categories:
• costs
• jobs
• Tags:
• coverage-estimates
• doug-elmendorf
• government-spending
• high-risk-pools
• implementation-failure
• jobs
• pre-existing-conditions
• repeal-obamacare
• work-disincentives