XPost: ucb.math, alt.society.civil-liberty, ca.environment
XPost: alt.mountain-bike

Obamacare will reduce the total number of hours Americans work
by the equivalent of 2 million full-time jobs in 2017, mostly
among low-wage earners, the Congressional Budget Office said
Tuesday.

The nonpartisan agency’s report found that the health care law’s
negative effects on the economy will be “substantially larger”
than what it had previously anticipated. It had previously
estimated the decrease would be the equivalent of 800,000 jobs.

"All our analysis led us to conclude the effects of the (health
care law) on labor force participation would be a good deal
larger than we had thought originally," CBO director Doug
Elmendorf said. "Fundamentally, the Affordable Care Act provides
subsidies to lower-income people and those subsidies phase out
... that will have some effects on discouraging labor supply."

The health care law isn’t the only reason the CBO is projecting
slower economic growth between 2014 and 2023, however. It also
cited inflation and lower productivity as reasons why it was
lowering its projections.

The slower growth will mean less tax revenue, which will add to
the deficit.

Low-wage employees may choose to give up extra hours of work to
avoid losing subsidies or tax advantages under the law, the
report said.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as
Obamacare, can be expected to cover 6 million people through its
insurance exchanges this year, according to the report. By 2017,
between 24 million and 25 million are expected to obtain
coverage each year, the CBO said.

The subsidies given to low-wage earners to help them afford
insurance under the law will total $20 billion in 2014, along
with related spending, the report said.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article338253/Obamacare-is- slowing-growth-spurring-labor-force-cuts-report-says.html
 

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