CBO WAY Behind On ObamaCare

If you'll remember, during the debate on whether or not to pass ObamaCare, the CBO kept issuing cost analyses that said the Democrats were right on what would happen with it, and all the rest of us were wrong. Once it got passed, though, they started issuing report after report showing how wrong they were the first time.

In this case, the CBO NOW says that ObamaCare will actually reduce the workforce... Meaning fewer workers in the workforce. This is what the head of the CBO, Douglas Elmendorf, says NOW.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cbo-director-obamacare-will-drive-people-0

“For the economy outside the health sector, the most significant impact of the legislation will be through the labor market,” Elmendorf said on Oct. 22. “We estimated that the legislation, on net, will reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent, primarily by reducing the amount that people choose to work.”

He explained that people would choose not to work because they could subsist on the generous federal insurance subsidies and Medicaid payments contained in the health care overhaul.

Looks like they're finally waking up over there... now that it's too late to stop this bad legislation before passage!

“Some provisions of the legislation will discourage people from working more hours or entering the workforce, and other provisions will encourage them to work more,” he said, adding that “[t]he net reduction in the supply of labor is largely attributable to the substantial expansion of Medicaid and the provision of subsidies through the new insurance exchanges.”
Elmendorf’s analysis of the health care law’s economic impact seems to support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) seemingly off-the-cuff remark in May when she said that because of the subsidies in the health care bill, people could quit their regular jobs and pursue their artistic dreams because the government would now provide for their health care.

“We see it as an entrepreneurial bill,” Pelosi said on May 14, “a bill that says to someone, if you want to be creative and be a musician or whatever, you can leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill, your passion, your aspirations because you will have health care.”

Sounds like the UK, actually, with many people not working and living "on the dole."

Elmendorf revealed that some of ObamaCare's so-called reforms may not be reforms at all. Analyzing the many provisions that are supposed to make health care more efficient and less expensive, Elmendorf said that there was little evidence any of them would actually work -- leading CBO to view their potential with skepticism.

“The legislation set up a number of experiments in delivery and payment systems to induce providers to offer higher-quality and lower-cost care,” he said. “However, for a number of reasons, it is unclear how successful the experiments will be.

“As a result, CBO projects limited savings from the experiments in delivery and payment systems during the next decade," he said.

Elmendorf also said it is doubtful that lawmakers will be able to carry out the law’s vision of slowing the growth of Medicare. “It is unclear whether such a reduction in the growth rate of [Medicare] spending could be sustained,” he said, “and if so, whether it would be accomplished through greater efficiencies in the delivery of health care or through reductions in access to care or the quality of care.”

Now, I ask you this. Where were all these realistic projections and revelations back before the bill passed, when it could have made a major difference? What the heck GOOD is the CBO if they're going to say one thing BEFORE a bill passes and say another AFTER? At this point, CBO projections are meaningless...