Obamacare Passes: The Demise of Millions of Private Sector Careers in America

DJH: Now that the house has passed Obamacare, it seems reasonable to ask the question: “what does this do to my career.” President Obama assures us that it will create jobs, but will it really? I think not, in fact, I think it virtually guarantees that the current recession will end up becoming another great depression.

A cursory review of industries that project economic stress as a result of the passage of Obamacare indicates that millions of private sector jobs will either be lost or placed at grave risk by this massive new government program.

1. Four Years of Taxes with No “Benefits” — 2.5 Million More Jobs Lost: In order to pass off the big lie that Obamacare will reduce the deficit; the program is structured to fool the American people into thinking the numbers “look good” for the first 10 years (which is the measurement period that gets “scored” by the Congressional Budget Office — CBO). But, the dems used a dirty little trick of raising taxes for ten years, but only providing benefits for the last 6 years of that period (beginning in 2014). These taxes, which will further compound the cost of doing business for virtually all businesses in America, will reduce job creation and very likely lead to more lay-offs.

By the way, I put parenthesis around the word “benefits,” because I don’t agree with the President when he says that his healthcare plan will ultimately help businesses in America – ever. But, for the next 4 years, there is simply nothing coming out of this legislation except increased taxes on businesses. And everyone agrees that raising taxes during a recession will hurt the economy.

The net effect will be $400 billion increase in taxes on the private sector between now and 2014, which will translate into the loss of 2.5 million more jobs per year.

Keep in mind, that the dems are also repealing the Bush tax cuts this year, which actually means a huge tax increase and the Obamacare taxes will be tacked on top of that!

2. Killing the Health Insurance Industry in America  — 2.3 Million Jobs at Risk: Don’t fool yourself; the first item on the Obamacare agenda is to drive all of the insurance companies out of business. Community Organizer and Senator Obama has been recorded numerous time stating that the “ultimate goal” of the dem healthcare reform is to create a single-payer government healthcare system. By definition, this means NO MORE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES AND NO MORE HEALTH INSURANCE JOBS.

Under Obamacare, the government will force insurance companies to offer coverage to high risk customers at the same rates charged healthy customers. In addition, it will limit an insurance company’s ability to raise rates or the amount paid out in lifetime benefits. The net of all of this is to virtually guarantee that the health care business in America will no longer be profitable. Today, Insurance companies make a below average profit of about 3%, so they will not be able to absorb these massive new costs. What happens next? Most likely, massive lay-offs as companies get out of the health insurance business.
Consider that the insurance industry is one of the last places in America where someone can work is comfortable white collar office job without a college education and Obamacare will quickly and decisively kill these jobs. There are 2.3 million Americans working in the insurance industry and every one of them will be forced into a career crisis thanks to Obamacare.

3. Fatally Wounding 2 Major Manufacturing Sectors in America — 600,000 Jobs at Risk: With America’s auto industry decimated by greedy union contracts, and high tech manufacturing jobs lost overseas due to our high corporate tax rate, the list of industries with good manufacturing jobs in America is getting pretty slim. Two of the better industries that remain are pharmaceuticals and medical devices, each employing about 300,000 private sector workers.

Now, imagine working in one of these great American industries as Obamacare becomes the “law of the land.” Suddenly, the return on investment for new development projects becomes a big unknown. Executives will no longer be able to rely on “the market,” to establish fair prices for risky R&D projects, but rather the President’s Secretary of HHS will set the prices. Unable to predict returns, these companies will cut way back on new product development and ultimately new product manufacturing.

4. Killing High Quality Careers in Healthcare – 14 Million Jobs at Risk : When I was a kid, the ultimate career plan for anyone was to become a doctor. It took a decade of college, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition, tens of thousands more to set up a practice, but in the end, it was probably the only great career that could thrive in virtually any town or city in America.

Obamacare means the death of this great career option for young Americans. Doctors will be forced to provide care for government set fees, which virtually eliminate potential profits for doctor’s practices.

My home state – Massachusetts has been suffering under a universal health care system very similar to Obamacare for the past 5 years. Two years ago, my wife became suddenly ill and I was unable to find a doctor to treat her using normal means – they were all refusing to accept new patients. I did some research and found this story in the New York Times that scared me to death. It was a story about a once very successful doctor who was now working like a dog for $110,000 a year and accepting no new patients and she is one of the lucky ones.

Here are a few excerpts:

“In rural Massachusetts, where reimbursement rates are relatively low, some physicians are earning as little as $70,000 after 20 years of practice.

Dr. Atkinson, 45, said she paid herself a salary of $110,000 last year. Her insurance reimbursements often do not cover her costs, she said.

“I calculated that every time I have a Medicare patient, it’s like handing them a $20 bill when they leave,” she said. “I never went into medicine to get rich, but I never expected to feel as disrespected as I feel. Where is the incentive for a practice like ours?”

Now if this is what’s happening to doctors, imagine the career impact on nurses, technicians, and specialists.

As you watch all of the TV coverage of this “historical event” unfold over the coming weeks, keep in mind, that providing FREE HEATH INSURANCE for 30 million people costs a lot of money and someone is going to have to pick up the tab.

From where I sit, that tab will cost the United States the loss of millions of more jobs in the private sector and reduce the quality of millions more. That’s a price we simply can’t afford to pay.

Dave

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