ObamaCare overhaul bodes ill for business and employment

In January President Obama promised a laser-focus on jobs. I've concluded it's "Star Wars" death-star laser. The Columbus Dispatch provides the latest evidence.

Last month, the nation's most prominent small-business association joined in a lawsuit against the health-care overhaul signed into law earlier this year by President Barack Obama. The National Federation of Independent Business concluded that the law will be harmful to small businesses and to prospects for small-business job creation. Small business is the economy's employment powerhouse, because new jobs are created disproportionately by this sector.

The White House claims that the plan will help small businesses because it includes health-care tax credits for these enterprises, but the NFIB says that the credit applies to fewer than a third of small businesses and the application process is daunting. Worse, the association points out, health-care costs are permanent, but the tax credit lasts only six years. The group also predicts that new taxes contained in the overhaul, such as one imposed on health-insurance companies, simply will be passed along to small businesses in higher health-insurance costs.

A study by the National Center for Policy Analysis says that because the tax credit decreases as a small business adds employees, it creates a disincentive to hiring. Others have pointed out that the law requires any employer with 50 or more employees either to provide health coverage or to pay a penalty. This could deter small employers from increasing their work forces and could induce some who are just over the 50-employee threshold to cut workers in order to get under it.

You're not safe if you work for a big company. Many big firms are considering chucking employer-provided insurance, paying the eight-percent penalty, and telling their workers to sign up for ObamaCare. Of course the Chosen One said numerous times, "If you like your coverage, you can keep it." He lied.

Technorati tags: politics Barack Obama Obama jobs economy politics news business Democrats universal health care obamacare