Is Obamacare Good For Jobs? Repealing Affordable Care Act Will Put Millions Out Of Work, Researchers Say

Repealing the Affordable Care Act will kill millions of jobs, according to new research. Amid increasing uncertainty over the future of the national healthcare law commonly known as Obamacare, Republicans have begun to shift their language from “repeal” to “repair.” A replacement could take until next year, President Donald Trump said Sunday.

About 1.2 million jobs could be lost, according to a report published last week from the Economic Policy Institute. Another study from last month by The Commonwealth Fund and the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University concluded that the number of jobs lost could reach 2.6 million, more than double the other estimate. By 2021, 3 million jobs might be lost, predicted the Commonwealth study.

Hundreds of thousands of those jobs would be in the healthcare sector. However, even more people in other industries could find themselves laid off, said Josh Bivens, Director of Research at the Economic Policy Institute.

“I think that would have a material effect,” Bivens told McClatchy. “I think people would notice that. The economy would feel less tight. The labor market would feel less tight. It just wouldn’t feel like a place where people were super confident they’d be hired quickly if they lost their jobs. So, not a recession, but a noticeable slowdown.”

The loss of job would come because of two main cuts: federal spending for premium tax credits that help people pay for coverage and spending for Medicaid services. Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Washington and Virginia would likely see the greatest number of job losses, the research concluded.

The repeal of the ACA could also cut the rate of job creation by 50 percent, Bivens predicted.

Nurses and healthcare technicians would be the professions most likely to see job losses, according to the Commonwealth study. But since health care dollars ripple throughout other sectors of the American economy, two-thirds of the job losses could come from other industries, such as construction, real estate, retail and finance.

The news came as the ACA was more popular than it has ever been. About 45 percent of Americans said the health care law was a good idea, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll published last month. Although that figure didn't break 50 percent, it did represent the highest approval rating for the ACA since the poll began in 2009. About 41 percent of respondents said the law was a bad idea.