Krugman: new CBO report on Obamacare "is definitely not what republicans want to hear."

[pampango]

Obamacare and Labor Supply



... the new report on the consequences of repealing the ACA is definitely not what the Congressional majority wants to hear. Despite including “dynamic scoring”, the report finds, unambiguously, that Obamacare reduces the deficit and repealing it would enlarge the deficit.

But the truth is that this report is much, much closer to what supporters of reform have said than it is to the scare stories of the critics — no death spirals, no job-killing, major gains in coverage at relatively low cost.

And there’s another important point: while the ACA may lead to somewhat lower GDP because it reduces labor supply, this does not imply a one-for-one loss in welfare. Suppose that a family’s second earner, now assured of being able to get health insurance, chooses as a result to work shorter hours and spend more time taking care of the children. GDP goes down — but there is a compensating non-monetary gain.

So overall this isn’t at all a “mixed” report — it’s a very big win for Obamacare supporters.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/20/obamacare-and-labor-supply/

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. I listen to NPR all day, and the NPR court watchers think the GOP is scared to death that the court

will throw this back to them. John Roberts, who saved ACA before, isn't going to allow the kind of disruption that would ensue in the wake of a bad decision. He may not do it for the people, but I don't think he'll allow the insurance markets to be thrown into the sort of chaos I keep hearing about. If that's his reason, I'll take it.

[tapermaker]

2. I am of the opinion that

republicans don't care about the dismal forecast for the enlarged deficit .Once the government is in crisis it gives them their reason to slash domestic programs . I think they are constantly looking for ways to fuck things up in order to do away with democratic rule.When I think republican ,I think rotten , degenerate , rancid ,and loathsome human beings . There is no saving their brand . toss it.

[stevenleser]

3. Not just Republicans. Various folks on the left are pretty invested in ACA not working. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

4. I suppose there exist "people on the left"

who want the ACA to fail at doing what it was supposed to do, but mostly the expressed sentiment on the left is that the ACA is a half measure that can neither achieve universal healthcare access nor reduce costs to be in line with those of other developed nations with actual universal healthcare systems. We don't want the ACA to fail, we want a system that can actually succeed.

But I think your carefully worded hippy punching was posted knowing all that.

Medicare for everyone

[stevenleser]

7. I doubt genuine hippies are invested in the ACA failing. Nt

[sadoldgirl]

5. Actually, I think that the repugs don't

care. They will just approve of that supposed
decision of the SCOTUS and declare their old
battle cry:See, we told you, government does
not work!

[lindysalsagal]

6. The ACA unchains many people from routine obligatory jobs they don't want

It allows entrepreneurship and family-based small business, as well as encouraging people to spend more time raising kids.

I think the greatest value is the freedom it grants people to go for a better career. republicans should rally around that, but since it was Obama who did it, not gonna happen.

[Scuba]

8. Bad as it is, we're far better off with the ACA than without.