Bending the curve downward

Recall how one of the arguments made in favor of passing ObamaCare was that it would bend the cost curve of health care downward. Well, we're finding out now that there is another curve that ObamaCare may very well be responsible for bending downward.




Here's Nancy Pelosi back in February of 2010 during the big push to get ObamaCare passed.

4 million jobs (created) and 400,000 almost immediately...

So, how has that all been working out?

A new study just released from the Heritage Foundation thinks Ms. Pelosi may want to reconsider her words.

Private-sector job creation initially recovered from the recession at a normal rate, leading to predictions last year of a “Recovery Summer.” Since April 2010, however (ed. note: ObamaCare passed at the end of March), net private-sector job creation has stalled. Within two months of the passage of Obamacare, the job market stopped improving. This suggests that businesses are not exaggerating when they tell pollsters that the new health care law is holding back hiring. The law significantly raises business costs and creates considerable uncertainty about the future. To encourage hiring, Congress should repeal Obamacare.

Now, correlation does not necessarily prove causation but it is a mighty damn big coincidence and the study points out the following with respect to the big chill ObamaCare has put on businesses:

Businesses with fewer than 50 workers have a strong incentive to maintain this size, which allows them to avoid the mandate to provide government-approved health coverage or face a penalty;

Businesses with more than 50 workers will see their costs for health coverage rise—they must purchase more expensive government-approved insurance or pay a penalty;

and Employers face considerable uncertainty about what constitutes qualifying health coverage and what it will cost. They also do not know what the health care market or their health care costs will look like in four years. This makes planning for the future difficult.

That last one is a biggie. Though passed just under a year and a half ago, the actual ObamaCare regulations are only now being written up. And the legislation has given unprecedented powers to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, and very much arbitrary power at that to interpret the language of the legislation as she sees fit.

How can this level of uncertainty not be bad for business, the employment figures and the economy at large?


Downward.