Thursday, January 19, 2012

Obamacare Hurting Jobs — And Patients

Yesterday the US Chamber of Commerce released its updated survey of small businesses.  The polling data revealed what many Americans already know – that Obamacare is increasing uncertainty and reducing hiring.  A whopping 74% of businesses said that Obamacare makes it harder for their firms to hire new workers, and 30% said they are not hiring thanks to Obamacare.  The survey is consistent with other reports; analysts at UBS have stated that Obamacare is “arguably the biggest impediment to hiring, particularly hiring of less skilled workers,” and the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has “frequently heard strong comments to the effect of ‘my company won’t hire a single additional worker until we know what health insurance costs are going to be.’”

Physicians are similarly unenthused about the impact of Obamacare on their practices.  As an op-ed in this morning’s USA Today notes, “many doctors are becoming wary of the law at a time when only one in three Americans support it.”  The piece cites a recent Deloitte survey of physicians, which found that 83% of physicians believe Obamacare will increase wait times, while only 27% believe the law will reduce costs through efficiency savings.

Speaker Pelosi famously said we had to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.  The latest news shows once again how American job creators and American physicians have not liked what they discovered in the massive 2700-page law.