This Is How Obamacare Will Hurt Business
Putting aside the issue of whether or not Obamacare (also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) is actually constitutional, on January 1, 2014, it will become the law of the land. We must accept that and move on. But we must also be preemptive and gauge how a law this massive in scope and sweeping in social intervention will change not only the healthcare industry, but also the economy as a whole.
And make no mistake: Obamacare will profoundly change the economy. Any law that forces every citizen to pay for something they didn’t have to before and forces every company to provide something to its employees at their own cost will have an impact.
The question then becomes: how negative will the impact be on the economy and the stock market?
First, let’s look at some basic numbers:
– $52 billion in new taxes will be levied on businesses, since they are now required by law to provide health insurance to all employees.
– $27 billion in new taxes will be imposed on drug companies. You know, the companies that research and develop cures and therapies for cancer, Alzheimer’s, and AIDS.
– 800,000 U.S. jobs will be lost as a result of Obamacare, according to Doug Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office. Hmm…fewer jobs. I don’t claim to be an economist, but any law that will directly cause the loss of nearly 1 million jobs doesn’t sound like it would be good for the economy.
Now, let’s get personal. Take your average small business that, under Obamacare, is now required to provide health insurance to all of its full-time employees. From an economic standpoint, that simply is not feasible. Most small businesses cannot afford that cost.
It’s fairly cut and dry. In the restaurant industry, for example, the average full-time employee typically generates annually $3,000 of revenue. The annual cost of health insurance for a full-time employee under Obamacare? $7,000. That’s a deficit of at least $4,000. The numbers simply don’t square up.
So what will small businesses do (or rather, be forced to do)? They will have to lay off employees, provide inferior service, and charge customers more for substandard products.
In short, Obamacare is a job killer. As Congressman John Kline so succinctly put it, “To suggest [Obamacare] doesn’t undermine job creation is to deny reality.”
And don’t forget that there is a penalty for employers who don’t comply with the law: a cool $2,000 for each employee not covered. That’s the position business are being put in: either break the law and pay a hefty fine, or reduce their staff and put even more people out of work.
Does Obama really think this is a wise move for a country whose economy is still struggling to recover?
By raising taxes on the very companies and individuals that foster economic growth and dynamic advances in technology, Obama is stifling the very so-called “progress” he so often cites as one of the major tenets of his administration.
This gradual government take-over of something as personal as our health is yet another slimy turn in the government’s efforts to turn America into a nanny-state. If the bureaucrats in Washington can mandate that every U.S. citizen purchase health insurance – which is a right NOT granted to the government anywhere in the Constitution – what’s to stop them from gradually laying down mandates on every aspect of our lives? After all, if they’re so concerned with our health, the next logical step in keeping us healthy is disease prevention, meaning mandated diets and exercise routines.
We’ve already seen shades of this in New York City, where Mayor Bloomberg has tried to ban super-sized sodas. His reason? Well, sugary sodas are a major contribution to obesity. Deny the people the option of buying an extra-large Mountain Dew, and the people will be healthier, right? But if politicians are seeking to ban the sale of super-sized sodas (a totally nonsensical argument, by the way, because it only bans the sale of super-sized portions of sodas; if someone really wants to drink that much soda, all they have to do is buy a few “legal” sized sodas) what’s to stop the Washington politicians from limiting you to only one double-cheeseburger a week? Or checking your ID to make sure you haven’t gone over your daily ration of potato chips?
Our government seems to be forgetting that they work for us. It is our tax dollars that pay their salaries. We work hard to provide for our family and a big chunk of what we earn goes to pay for a government that is supposed to work for us, not against us.
The economic outlook following the mandated Obamacare is bleak. Expect stocks for all major retailers to drop. This slow, trickling improvement we’ve been experiencing in the economy? Expect it to stop, if not totally reverse course and plunge us into another deep recession. The only sector expected to flourish, ironically enough, is the health insurance companies. But it makes sense when you think about it: they own a product that will soon become mandatory for all citizens to buy.
Obamacare is not pro-business. It’s pro-Big Government. It’s another step towards socialism, a nanny-state where we, as citizens, become increasingly dependent on the government to provide us with everything we need in order to survive and any freedom we have left has all but been taken away.
And once Obamacare is mandated on January 1, 2014 and every citizen must buy health insurance, don’t be surprised if the Big Government doesn’t have another plan up its sleeve to help the country along and get us deeper in their pockets.
It’s a scary time, friends. The storm hasn’t hit yet, but it will shortly. I suggest battening down the hatches and keeping your loved ones close.
