Paul Krugman: No, millions of Americans won’t lose their jobs because of Obamacare
The New York Times columnist takes on "the latest falsehood in the ever-mendacious campaign against health reform"
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Paul Krugman’s Friday column in the New York Times takes on “the latest falsehood in the ever-mendacious campaign against health reform.”
This time, he says, it’s the dishonesty (or willful ignorance) of politicians like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor who are grossly misrepresenting findings from the Congressional Budget Office on the fiscal and economic effects of the Affordable Care Act.
The report appendix on the Affordable Care Act predicts that first-year enrollment in the health exchanges will fall “only modestly short of expectations,” and that uninsured Americans are getting insurance at basically the rate predicted last spring. But this isn’t the part being lied about by Republicans like Cantor — they’re just ignoring it entirely because it doesn’t mesh well with their vision of Obamacare as an apocalyptic failure.
The real dishonesty from Cantor and others, Krugman says, is how they are talking about Obamacare’s impact on the labor supply.
“It has always been clear that health reform will induce some Americans to work less,” he explains. “Some people will, for example, retire earlier because they no longer need to keep working to keep their health insurance. Others will reduce their hours to spend more time with their children because insurance is no longer contingent on holding a full-time job. More subtly, the incentive to work will be somewhat reduced by health insurance subsidies that fall as your income rises.
Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@saloThis time, he says, it’s the dishonesty (or willful ignorance) of politicians like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor who are grossly misrepresenting findings from the Congressional Budget Office on the fiscal and economic effects of the Affordable Care Act.
The report appendix on the Affordable Care Act predicts that first-year enrollment in the health exchanges will fall “only modestly short of expectations,” and that uninsured Americans are getting insurance at basically the rate predicted last spring. But this isn’t the part being lied about by Republicans like Cantor — they’re just ignoring it entirely because it doesn’t mesh well with their vision of Obamacare as an apocalyptic failure.
The real dishonesty from Cantor and others, Krugman says, is how they are talking about Obamacare’s impact on the labor supply.
“It has always been clear that health reform will induce some Americans to work less,” he explains. “Some people will, for example, retire earlier because they no longer need to keep working to keep their health insurance. Others will reduce their hours to spend more time with their children because insurance is no longer contingent on holding a full-time job. More subtly, the incentive to work will be somewhat reduced by health insurance subsidies that fall as your income rises.
“The
budget office has now increased its estimate of the size of these
effects,” he continues. “It believes that health reform will reduce the
number of hours worked in the economy by between 1.5 percent and 2
percent, which it unhelpfully noted ‘represents a decline in the number
of full-time-equivalent workers of about 2.0 million.’”
Cantor seized on the data about voluntary job
reduction — retirement, parents opting to work part-time, etc. — and
twisted it into a data point about involuntary job loss. “Under
Obamacare, millions of hardworking Americans will lose their jobs and
those who keep them will see their hours and wages reduced,” Cantor
tweeted about the budget report.
This simply isn’t true, and Cantor should know that, as Krugman explains:
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