A report from Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee about the looming financial burdens of the Obamacare law will likely cause sticker shock among Americans concerned over a growing deficit,
The Washington Examiner reported.
Projections using data from the Congressional Budget Office show the U.S. deficit will grow about $131 billion through 2024 under the Affordable Care Act, and about $280 billion in tax revenue would be lost be lost between 2017 and 2024, the committee's Republicans found.
Such figures have some lawmakers furious, the Examiner noted.
"Today's report proves that taxpayers were sold a bill of goods," GOP Budget Committee spokesman Andrew Logan told the Examiner. "Not only will the Democrats' health law not reduce the deficit, it will, despite massive tax increases, actually make it worse by more than $100 billion over the next decade alone."
The findings fly in the face of previous calculations by the CBO that suggested Obamacare would slash the deficit by $109 billion, according to the Examiner.
The blame for the increased costs were attributed by the Republicans to "lower-than-expected initial enrollment figures, lower penalty payments by employers and individuals because of the exemptions to the coverage mandate, and lower tax revenue from a reduced labor force," the Examiner noted.
Stanford University research fellow Lanhee Chen, writing for
Bloomberg View, noted the ominous supply-side employment ramifications of the healthcare law moving ahead, with 2.5 million workers exiting the workforce by 2024 because of it.
Wrote Chen: "The law creates strong incentives for millions of people to just stop working — even though the Obama administration tried to spin this outcome as a good thing since it would allow people to 'pursue their dreams.'"
Chen added: "Fewer people working means less aggregate income is being earned, which translates into less tax revenue for the federal government. That, in turn, leads to increased deficits."
The grim fiscal outlook ahead stands in stark contrast to the president's touting of his plan's benefits — improved health and an improved economy.
Just two weeks ago, in a speech at Northwestern University, Obama described those benefits as "staggering,"
The Hill reported.
"There's a reason fewer [Republicans] are running against Obamacare — because while good, affordable healthcare might still be a fanged threat to freedom on Fox News, it's working pretty well in the real world," the president quipped.
He added: "Healthcare has long been the single biggest driver of America's future deficits. Healthcare is now the single-biggest factor driving those deficits down."
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