How Obamacare Hurts You If You’re Looking for a Job

Amy Payne

America is hurting for jobs. And if you’re looking for one, here’s how Obamacare is hurting you.
Obamacare is keeping businesses from hiring.

We already knew that many employers plan to cut workers’ hours to stay under the threshold of Obamacare mandates. This makes full-time jobs—much less full-time jobs with health benefits—harder to come by.
It’s more difficult to track the phantom jobs that just don’t exist today because of Obamacare’s strain on employers. But the latest report from the Federal Reserve confirms that they are all too real.
The Federal Reserve collects feedback from businesses and issues reports about the economic outlook. Its latest report directly links Obamacare to a lack of hiring. In fact, it cites Obamacare’s mandates and regulations 10 times.
Examples from the report (emphasis added):

“Many contacts also commented on reluctance to expand due to uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act; some employers cut hours or employees.”
“A number of contacts voiced concern about the uncertainty surrounding future employer and employee healthcare costs.”
“There is anxiety about rising health insurance premiums [among manufacturers], which was attributed to the Affordable Care Act.”

This lines up with a recent Gallup survey reporting two-fifths of small business owners have held off on hiring because of Obamacare. As Heritage expert James Sherk summarizes: “For the next several years, Obamacare will also make it harder for workers who want jobs to find them.”
Not just today—the “next several years.”
For Americans seeing their premiums go up or their health coverage dropped, trouble finding a job would be a double whammy.

Obama Said This with a Straight Face

Thousands of people are signing up and saving money as we speak.”
Yes, President Obama actually said that yesterday about Obamacare. As we all know, for the vast majority of people, the opposite is true.
SIGNING UP? Most people have found it impossible to sign up for coverage through the Healthcare.gov website. In fact, some of the people standing behind the President during his speech—who were supposed to represent “success stories”—have not yet obtained coverage.
SAVING MONEY? Heritage research revealed that in 43 out of 47 states with information available, premiums are higher in the Obamacare marketplaces than in the individual insurance market.
The first problem—website signups—can be fixed. The second—Obamacare’s price—cannot.

Find your state and see how much premiums are going up >>>

Obama touted the fact that young people can stay on their parents’ plans until they are 26. But what about parents whose premiums are going up? Or people who are turning 27 and facing the disproportionately high cost burden that Obamacare puts on young adults?
He touted the law’s Medicaid expansion, which puts more Americans on a broken-down program where one out of three primary care doctors already won’t accept new patients.
He claimed Obamacare would bring “competition” and “more choices.” In reality, the opposite is true. Heritage experts Robert Moffit and Edmund Haislmaier have explained how “Under Obamacare, Americans will have less choice and less competition” (emphasis added).
He claimed Obamacare is “high quality” health insurance. But it’s a one-size-fits-all deal—and that doesn’t work for health care. A high quality system would put patients and their needs first.
Today Obama said, “The Affordable Care Act is not just a website—it’s much more.” Exactly. The Obamacare website might eventually get fixed—but Obamacare won’t.