OBAMACARE REPEAL COULD EFFECT EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS

Speaker Paul Ryan
Speaker Paul Ryan

OBAMACARE REPEAL COULD EFFECT EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS

By Monique Smith

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been under scrutiny from the moment it became part of President Obama’s agenda. Since the passing of the ACA, it has been the target of the Republican Party’s

agenda to repeal and replace it.

However, rank-and-file Republicans in the House and Senate are growing increasingly fearful that repealing the health law without having a replacement ready would be disastrous.

According to the Urban Institute, nearly 30 million Americans would lose health insurance by 2019 while the broader U.S. economy would be hit. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion was adopted by all but 19 states. According to a study released by Reuters Health, Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid coverage to people just above the poverty threshold may have contributed to the increase of disabled Americans getting jobs.

This study revealed that in the states where the ACA expansion was implemented, the employment rates of the disabled was 38% percent compared to the 32% of disabled Americans where the ACA Medicaid expansion was not adopted.

The number of people who said they were not working

because of their disability was 40% but the percentage was

slightly higher in states that didn’t adopt the expansion at

48%.

The repeal of Obamacare will affect millions of Americans adversely both in the area of medical coverage but financially as well and the Republican Party will have to deal with the fall out.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have promised a smooth transition out of Obamacare, by repealing but delaying when it would take effect for two years or more.

After 6 years of promising to repeal Obamacare, Republicans have yet to come up with a mutually agreed upon plan to replace.

At a recent press conference House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. told reporters, “Our goal is to bring it all together concurrently. We’re going to use every tool at our disposal, through legislation, through regulation, to bring replace concurrent along with repeal, so that we can save people from this mess.”

President Trump campaigned heavily on the promise to repeal Obamacare but still warned Republicans to ‘be careful’ with repealing and not replacing with a comprehensive plan. Trump also campaigned on the promise to bring back jobs but repealing the ACA could cost many Americans their jobs.

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