OBAMACARE Will Have Unintended and Harmful Consequences. It Has Already Started.

by Lipton Matthews

             “A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.  It can only exist until the people discover they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.  From that moment on, the majority votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapse over a loose fiscal policy – to be followed by a dictatorship”

                                                                                – Alexander Tyler Fraser

Politicians are judged based on their ability to sell lunacy as public policy, therefore aspiring politicians must master the art of marketing, like the astute Barack Obama. Even, if one does not revere Mr.Obama, we must admire his skills has a marketer.

Obama has managed to garner public support for the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) which is in essence bad policy; and was upheld as a “tax” by the Supreme Court.

But instead of engaging in a serious debate with his opposition colleagues about the implications of Obamacare, he is trying  to score political points by lambasting them and unfortunately most persons are succumbing to his antics.

It is not surprising that Republicans were being blamed for the Government Shutdown, although Obama refused to compromise.  House Republicans voted to fund the entire government except Obamacare and the Democrat controlled Senate and the President refused to bulge, citing the need to protect a programme that will redound to the benefit of all Americans. The Democrats wanted a “clean bill”. But contrary to the views of the mainstream media and Democrats, Obamacare maybe a disaster.

With funding of Obamacare, “the law of the land”, firms with over 50 full time employees will be required to provide health coverage or  pay a fine of $2000-3000 per full time workers. This has already created jitters in the private sector.

In a recent CNBC survey, 42 percent of small businesses indicated that they have frozen hiring practices because of the Health Care Law known as Obamacare; while 38 percent of small businesses have scaled down expansion plans and 18 percent have reduced working hours to part time.

Based on research from the Central’s Budget Office, the Affordable Health Care Act will result in 800,000 fewer full time jobs. In addition, the myriad of taxes and regulations introduced by this new policy, will serve as a disincentive to the private sector. For example, Stryker Corp laid off 1000 employees last year due to the Affordable Care Act. It affects them directly through a 2.3 excise tax on medical devices, the tax is expected to cost the company $100 million dollars a year. “We would rather put this money towards jobs, innovation, clinical research and priorities that will create value added medical technology for patients while helping us partner with hospitals to deliver cost effective solution,” said the CEO.

Unfortunately, Stryker Corp is not the only business that will be cutting jobs because of the Affordable Care Act. The Cleveland Clinic will also be laying off workers in an attempt to prepare for Obama’s Health Reforms.

Not seeing the unintended consequences of this or any legislation is part of the problem with the left. Magical thinking will not stop layoffs.

Like most salesmen, Mr. Obama has the potential to sell sloppy products like the Affordable Care Act. The only way to avoid this henceforth is for voters to become more discerning in order to avoid future disasters. But that may be magical thinking on my part as well.

 

Lipton Matthews is a first year law student and is unusual in being a Jamaican Conservative Capitalist Teenager. He can be reached at lo_matthews@yahoo.com