Obamacare will mean fewer people on the job
WASHINGTON — Several million American workers will reduce their hours on the job or leave the work force entirely because of incentives built into President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. That would mean losses equal to 2.3 million full-time jobs by 2021, in large part because people would opt to keep their income low to stay eligible for federal health care subsidies or Medicaid, the agency said. It had estimated previously that the law would lead to 800,000 fewer jobs by that year. Republican lawmakers seized on the report as major new evidence of what they consider the failures of “Obamacare,” the huge overhaul of U.S. health care coverage that they’re trying to overturn and planning to use as a main argument against Democrats in November’s midterm elections. It’s the latest indication that “the president’s health care law is destroying full-time jobs,” said Republican Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. “This fatally flawed health care scheme is wreaking havoc on working families nationwide,” he said. But the White House said the possible reduction would be due to voluntary steps by workers rather than businesses cutting jobs — people having the freedom to retire early or spend more time as stay-athome parents because they no longer had to depend only on their employers for health insurance. “CBO’s findings are not driven by an assumption that [the health care law] will lead employers to eliminate jobs or reduce hours,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.