They Passed It, Now We Know

Private-sector job creation initially recovered from the recession at a normal rate, leading to predictions last year of a “Recovery Summer.” Since April 2010, however, net private-sector job creation has stalled. Within two months of the passage of Obamacare, the job market stopped improving. This suggests that businesses are not exaggerating when they tell pollsters that the new health care law is holding back hiring. The law significantly raises business costs and creates considerable uncertainty about the future. To encourage hiring, Congress should repeal Obamacare.

A recent study by McKinsey & Co. reveals the level of unease felt by employers.

Thirty percent of those polled reported they will definitely or probably stop offering health insurance in the coming years. The study further showed the more aware employers were of the law, the more likely they were to think they would drop coverage for their employees.

Job creators aren’t the only ones left with uncertainty. Also buried in the 2,700-page law is a newly created board of 15 unelected bureaucrats who will have the power to severely limit services available to our nation’s seniors. Unlike many “boards” created in Washington, the Independent Payment Advisory Board’s recommendations to the secretary of health and human services will have the power of law.