Obamacare Ouch

By 2024, 2.5 million fewer Americans will work due to Obamacare. Because Obamacare healthcare subsidies decline as incomes rise, some workers will deliberately not work to increase their government benefits. The structure of the subsidy is a tax on work. And you get less of whatever you tax. Regrettably, the labor force participation rate is…

Read More

Healthy Demand

Obamacare will reduce demand for employees at firms with slightly less than 50 workers and for hires wanting more than 30 hours/week of work. It’ll also reduce the supply of labor. Now, many employees work for health insurance. Once insurance becomes easily available and heavily subsidized for the poor, a major reason to work will…

Read More

Terrible Tactics

The GOP threat to close the government on 10/1 if the 2014 budget contains any funding for Obamacare is laughable. Obama will veto any bill that defunds his signature achievement and a veto override is impossible as it requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers. Moreover, dare I remind anyone, the most recent attempt to…

Read More

Workless Policy

With the Obamacare requirement that most employers offer affordable health insurance to their employees soon to become law, expect total employment to rise and hours worked/worker to fall. This is because employers will force their employees, where possible, to work less than 30 hours/week. But employers will have to compensate by hiring more workers to…

Read More

Hold the Healthcare

24 million workers work 30 hours/week or less. For the purpose of Obamacare, these are part-timers and need not receive employer provide healthcare. Another 10 million workers work between 30 and 35 hours/week. If employers can hold those 10 million workers down to less than 30 hours a week, fully 25% of the labor force…

Read More

The Supremes

Opponents of healthcare reform (PPACA) contend it’s unconstitutional, as it forces us to buy health insurance or pay a fine. But is it? Suppose the IRS raised our taxes by the penalty amount, then gave everyone with insurance a deduction equal to the penalty? This would be functionally equivalent to the PPACA tax provisions. It’s…

Read More