IBD: Death Panels And Job Losses

CBO Director Elmendorf: ObamaCare will destroy 800,000 jobs

Reform: As the head of Medicaid and Medicare services testifies in favor of ObamaCare, the CBO director says it will destroy 800,000 jobs. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once famously said that we'd have to pass ObamaCare to see what was in it. She also boasted that the health care bill would create 4 million jobs — "400,000 of them almost immediately."

Now that we've seen what's in it, we realize the possible consequences for our physical and economic health. And congressional testimony before GOP-led committees has given us fresh reasons for repeal.

Contradicting Mrs. Pelosi, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf told the House Budget Committee on Thursday that one of the unintended consequences of ObamaCare would be a reduction in employment by half a percent by 2021.

In an exchange with Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., Elmendorf confirmed the analysis contained in a CBO report issued last August. "That net effect reflects changes in incentives in the labor market that operate in both directions," he said.

"The way I would put it," Elmendorf said, "is that we do estimate ... that employment will be about 160 million by the end of the decade. Half a percent of that is 800,000." That number is 50% more than all the people who work for GM, Ford, and Chrysler combined.

ObamaCare mandates and costs will reduce hiring while some workers will have less incentive to enter the work force. In fact, Elmendorf's number may be quite low, considering it's been estimated that ObamaCare will impose $500 billion in new taxes and will actually cost more than $2.3 trillion in 10 years.

"Since day one," said John Murray, deputy chief of staff for Majority Leader Eric Cantor, "Republicans have opposed ObamaCare for a simple reason: It would destroy jobs. (House) Minority Leader Pelosi, (Senate Majority) Leader Reid and others said we were wrong. Guess not."

Meanwhile Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama's choice to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee on ObamaCare's implications for those two programs and the seniors they serve. He also testified on his past admiration for the rationing and cost-effectiveness standards applied at Britain's National Health Service (NHS).

In questioning Berwick, committee chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., noted that "Medicare actuaries predict that because of the cuts in the Democrats' health care law, 725 hospitals, 2,352 nursing homes and 1,587 home-health agencies will become unprofitable." Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, said 300 doctors in his state have already dropped Medicare.

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