The Cato Institute’s Michael F. Cannon is a foe of the Affordable Care Act, which means I disagree with him most of the time. But he’s right on the money with his ten-point teardown of the Republican Congress’ first salvo against Obamacare.
The bill would redefine a full-time worker as someone who works 40 hours per week, rather than 30. That makes it easier for employers to meet the mandate to offer health insurance to full-time workers. It’s essentially a loosening of the mandate, which will benefit low-wage service companies.
Cannon thinks this move is a bad idea. I strongly agree with his first and last points:
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- The legislation would increase government spending by pushing more people onto the exchanges and Medicaid
- It would create an incentive to reduce employees’ hours to just under 40 per week. A whole ton of people would be affected by that maneuver; orders of magnitude more than the number near the current 30 hour threshold
His other eight points are about why the 40-hour bill weakens the overall Republican attempt to dump Obamacare. (At one point he writes, “House Republicans are playing small ball with no leverage. How is that strategically smart?”) I agree with his analysis, but unlike him I’m not bothered that the GOP continues to flail.
[Photo from Flickr user Joel Dinda]
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