“In some cases we’ve heard about, a local McDonalds has hired employees to operate the cash register or flip burgers for 20 hours a week and then the workers head to the nearby Burger King BKW -2.82% or Wendy’s to log another 20 hours. Other employees take the opposite shifts. Welcome to the strange new world of small-business hiring under ObamaCare.”
“The GAO has been issuing warnings about ObamaCare’s shaky budget assumptions for a while now, but this is the first time it’s put a concrete number against it. Still, bad as this $6.2 trillion deficit boost is, the real figure is likely to be much higher, since the GAO is still being far too optimistic about the rest of ObamaCare. Here are five big assumptions the GAO makes that aren’t likely to hold true.”
“House Republican doctors released a ‘healthcare state of the union’ video Wednesday that criticizes President Obama’s signature healthcare law but does not mention repealing it. The video shows floor speeches from frequent critics of the healthcare law, including Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.). It shows lawmakers arguing that the Affordable Care Act will raise costs and criticizing its taxes on medical devices.”
“A GOP subcommittee chairman railed against the medical-loss ratio (MLR) in President Obama’s healthcare law Wednesday for increasing fraud in the private sector. In committee, Rep. Joe Pitts (Pa.) said that most anti-fraud efforts are categorized as ‘administrative’ expenses and thus limited to 20 percent of a plan’s spending under the MLR.”
“Under a different set of assumptions, the law has the opposite effect over time, the GAO said — the deficit will increase by 0.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) if the law’s cost-containment measures are phased out. The report attributed this potential increase in part to the law’s most expensive features — the Medicaid expansion and the provision of insurance subsidies.”